'Kornacki Cam' is the streaming hit of the midterm elections, boosting NBC

Stephen Battaglio, Los Angeles Times on Nov 4, 2026

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The Democrats weren’t the only big winners in the midterm elections.

NBC News said the “Kornacki Cam” featuring the network’s chief data analyst, Steve Kornacki, ranked as the top election livestream on YouTube, with a record 29 million views across all platforms. Kornacki’s 10 1/2 hours of continuous online coverage were woven into NBC’s election broadcast, which according to early data from Nielsen led the TV competition Tuesday night.

While final figures, including out-of-home viewing, will not be available until Thursday, early data show NBC averaged 6.5 million viewers in prime time, followed by ABC (4.9 million), while the three major cable news channels, CNN, MS NOW and Fox News, were each around 3.9 million viewers. CBS averaged 2.6 million viewers.

Fox News coverage was simulcast on Fox Business Network, pushing its average up to 4.4 million viewers. The figure is well below the roughly 8 million viewers the two networks scored in 2022, as ardent supporters of President Trump likely tuned out of the rough night for the Republicans.

If NBC’s lead holds when the final numbers are issued, the network will have its first ratings win on a midterm election night in 24 years.

Kornacki developed a strong audience following with his no-frills, drill-down into the voting data during his years at cable network MSNBC, which became MS NOW last year ahead of its spinoff this year into a new company, Versant.

After the spinoff, MSNBC and NBC News were split up, and nearly all employees had to choose between working at the progressive-leaning cable news channel or the broadcast network. Kornacki chose to sign with NBC, where he also provides data analysis for the sports division.

NBC News took full advantage of Kornacki’s popularity, featuring him on its Rockefeller Plaza set for the first time.

On YouTube, the livestream reached 6.1 million views and more than 300,000 peak concurrent viewers between 8:30 and 11:30 p.m. Eastern.

Nexstar’s cable network NewsNation doesn’t have the large audiences of its more established competitors. But the network was early on the major calls of the night, which were made by Decision Desk HQ, the upstart company that provides voting data to media outlets and corporations.

NewsNation called the House for the Democrats at 9:09 p.m., nearly an hour ahead of NBC. NewsNation gave the Senate majority to Democrats at 11:21 p.m., two minutes ahead of NBC. NewsNation was also first to call the most surprising Democratic Senate wins, including James Talarico of Texas, Annie Andrews of South Carolina and Adam Hamilton of Kansas.

The major networks use The Associated Press and their own decision desks to make election calls. After the infamous slip-up in the 2000 election when Florida was called for President George W. Bush and then pulled back, the networks have been far less aggressive in seeking to be first to proclaim a winner.

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