2 Major TV Channels’ Ratings Jump Amid Tariff Turmoil

It seems everyone has tariffs on the brain.

Plenty of Americans are worried about their financial futures, which has driven substantial ratings boosts to CNBC and Fox Business Network.

The current U.S. administration’s shocking move to create a massive increase on import tariffs in the country have sent the stock market into freefall. Since the announcement of new tariffs on April 2, the S&P500 index has dropped by nearly 11%; other stock indexes, like the NASDAQ composite and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, have dropped as much or more.

What hasn’t dropped, though, is the number of viewers watching their money disappear; in fact, that number has gone way up. Both CNBC and Fox Business have seen a giant increase in viewers, according to The Holllywood Reporter.

At the end of the first week of April, CNBC averaged 293,000 viewers. That’s 36% higher than the past month for CNBC. The network’s full slate of programming averaged even more, with a 40% increase on its usual numbers. In addition, CNBC has had a ginormous surge of online traffic, with 83% more page views than their weekday average for the entire year.

It’s the same for Fox Business, which pulled in 251,000 viewers in the same time period. For Fox Business, that’s a 22% increase from the previous week.

Until financial turmoil has quieted around the country, it’s likely both networks will continue to see higher viewership.