NBC News’ TikTok Viewership Surges 1,800% to 2.5 Billion Views in Q1 | Exclusive

Whether you love him or loathe him, Donald Trump’s return to the White House has been a boon to the news industry.

One clear example: NBC News enjoyed huge growth on TikTok during the first quarter of 2025, TheWrap has learned, with the news publication’s viewership on the app surging 1,800% compared to the same time last year.

Overall, NBC News racked up 2.5 billion views between January and March — making it the No. 1 news network on TikTok during that time, as it surpassed viewership for competitors like CNN, Fox News, ABC News and CBS News.

The president, as most media-watchers would expect, has been at the center of many of NBC News’ top TikTok videos; three of the five most-watched NBC clips during Q1 had something to do with President Trump, including this one from January, when he gave a shout-out to his “very tall son,” Barron.

But other content performed well for NBC News during the first quarter, too, including its coverage of the Los Angeles wildfires, an NBC News source told TheWrap. Having reporters offer explainers and videos from their reporting in the field also seemed to resonate with TikTok users, the source noted.

The most-viewed TikTok video of the quarter was of 94-year-old Holocaust survivor Ruth Cohen returning to Auschwitz for the first time since being liberated. She was joined by NBC News correspondent Jesse Kirsch, who gave Cohen a hug during the clip as they walked around the death camp. “I’m here, and Hitler lost,” Cohen said in the video, which has been ‘liked’ 7.4 million times.

NBC News’ strong performance on TikTok comes as the app, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, is in limbo in the U.S. TikTok is facing a ban from the States, after President Biden signed a law last year requiring ByteDance to sell its American business; that ban is on hold right now, after President Trump gave TikTok a second 75-day extension earlier this month to work out a deal.

The news outlet enjoyed a big first quarter off of TikTok as well. NBCNews.com’s 87 million unique visitors between January and March was up 6% year-over-year, and was the website’s best first quarter since 2021. That growth came as CNN’s web traffic dropped 12% year-over-year during the quarter, and The New York Times had a 2% dip in clicks, according to data from Comscore.

NBC News Now, its 24/7 live-streaming channel, also had its best first quarter ever, up 43% year-over-year, although exact streaming figures were not disclosed.

NBC News’ nice start to the year comes as other news outlets have also enjoyed a “Trump Bump” following the president’s return to the White House. Fox News, as TheWrap reported earlier this month, had the best quarter for Monday-Friday viewership in cable news history during the first three months of 2025.

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