After he was tapped to anchor NCS’s new foray into late-night stay information programming, Los Angeles-based anchor Elex Michaelson advised that cable information behavior of airing reruns in the post-midnight time slots that’s left a lot of its potential viewers in the darkish.
“I don’t think that works anymore,” Michaelson told Deadline last month, including that many viewers are “watching dated news in a media environment that is faster and faster.”
A month after the premiere of The Story Is with Elex Michaelson, nevertheless, the community continues to be ready to see if the West Coast will tune in throughout their primetime to look at stay cable information. Besides coming in a distant third to the repeats airing on Fox News and MS NOW (previously MSNBC), Michaelson’s two-hour present isn’t but drawing the ratings that NCS’s encore shows have been.
According to Nielsen, The Story Is – which airs at midnight ET/ 9 pm PT – is averaging 213,000 whole viewers an evening and 35,000 in the important thing promoting demographic of adults aged 25-54 since debuting on October 27 and thru November 21.
The program, which additionally airs on NCS International and broadcasts in the morning hours in a number of abroad time zones and boasts a big world footprint of greater than 300 million households and lodge rooms, is at the moment trailing the US viewership numbers that repeats of Erin Burnett Outfront and Anderson Cooper 360 had scored in the identical time slot final quarter and in September.
During the third quarter of this yr, NCS’s late-night reruns averaged 242,000 viewers general and 41,000 in the important thing demo. In the month of September, the encore broadcasts of Burnett and Cooper attracted a nightly whole viewers of 225,000 and 37,000 in the 25-54 demographic.
As for its present head-to-head competitors, Michaelson’s present is attracting lower than one-third of Fox News’ whole viewership and barely half of MS NOW’s.
Since The Story Is debuted, Fox News’ post-midnight programming – which typically consists of repeats of Jesse Watters Primetime and The Five – has averaged 676,000 whole viewers and 80,000 in the 25-54 demo.
Over on MS NOW, the encore telecasts of The Rachel Maddow Show, The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell and The Briefing with Jen Psaki have nabbed a nightly whole viewership of 411,000 and 50,000 in the important thing demographic.
Perhaps even extra startling for Michaelson’s present, although, is the way it compares to NCS’s late-night reruns from a yr in the past. At this similar time in 2024, the community’s midnight to 2 a.m. ET repeats averaged 387,000 whole viewers and 124,000 in the promoting demo – representing a 72 p.c drop for The Story Is amongst youthful viewers.
Of course, a lot of the year-over-year comparability consists of the stretch run of the 2024 presidential race and the election of Donald Trump, which saw inflated ratings throughout the cable and broadcast information panorama. At the identical time, although, each NCS and MSNBC noticed rapid drop-offs in their viewership following Trump’s second electoral victory on November 5.
Still, evidently Michaelson’s two-hour broadcast could possibly be on the cusp of constructing an viewers. After averaging simply 197,000 whole viewers in its first two weeks on the air, The Story Is pulled in a nightly viewership of 242,000 and 41,000 in the important thing demo final week. Both of these numbers are on par with NCS’s late-night programming final quarter.
On high of that, Michaelson broadcasting stay whereas the opposite cable information networks have been airing dated reruns allowed for his present to be forward of the competitors in phrases of breaking information, akin to Marjorie Taylor Greene quitting Congress or Trump’s high-stakes meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea. Furthermore, different networks — together with Fox News — have picked up a number of clips and quotes from Michaelson’s interviews with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, amongst others.
Michaelson can also be dealing with the headwinds affecting all of cable and broadcast tv, notably information broadcasting. The mixture of continued cord-cutting, the glut of streaming providers, and youthful demographics more and more turning to on-line sources for information has been a drain on the cable information trade – to not point out Trump’s return to the White House, which has prompted a large swath of disillusioned viewers to show the dial.
During the third quarter of 2025, NCS skilled a 42 p.c drop in whole primetime viewers and a 58 p.c decline in the 25-54 demo in comparison with the identical quarter final yr. MSNBC was additionally down 46 p.c in whole primetime viewers and 64 p.c in the important thing demographic year-over-year.
Even Fox News, which noticed a post-MAGA ratings enhance following Trump’s win, has begun to see a bit of erosion in latest months. Compared to final yr, Fox News dipped 9 p.c in whole viewers and 34 p.c in the promoting demographic this previous quarter. The community was additionally down six p.c in whole viewers and 20 p.c in the demo throughout primetime in comparison with the second quarter.
Prior to becoming a member of NCS, Michaelson had made a reputation for himself as a extremely revered native anchor in Los Angeles, successful eight Emmys and being named TV Journalist of the Year in 2023 by the Los Angeles Press Club. At KTTV-Fox 11, the place he created and hosted The Issue Is with Elex Michaelson, he scored interviews with Trump, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, amongst others.
“I am so excited to join NCS and learn firsthand from some of the most talented journalists on the planet,” Michaelson mentioned when NCS introduced his hiring in September. “I’m especially grateful that NCS is expanding its investment in my hometown as the West Coast houses so many global leaders in politics, entertainment, technology, sports and more. This is truly a dream job.”
While Michaelson told Deadline that he had lengthy pitched the community on the thought of a stay present for the late-night time slot, the California journalist wasn’t NCS’s first selection for the midnight spot.
Earlier this yr, Jim Acosta decided to leave the network after it pulled his morning time slot and supplied him the “graveyard” shift that Michaelson at the moment occupies. The transfer would have additionally entailed Acosta relocating to Los Angeles, and his present would have been simulcast on NCS International.