A clear winner has emerged.
Fox News Channel led the cable news rankings last week, with impressive viewership numbers, averaging 1.4 million total viewers during the day and 2 million during primetime. This solid performance contrasted sharply with the struggles of CNN and MSNBC, which experienced significant viewership declines. CNN recorded its lowest-rated week in total viewers since June 2001, with only 268,000 total viewers. Meanwhile, MSNBC averaged 346,000 viewers, still far behind Fox News. In primetime, CNN and MSNBC struggled even more, drawing only 297,000 and 465,000 viewers, respectively, compared to Fox’s 2 million.
CNN also saw a sharp decline in its key demographic of adults aged 25-54, averaging only 41,000 viewers, marking its lowest performance in nearly three decades. MSNBC performed even worse, with just 29,000 viewers in the demo, which was the network’s worst showing since 1997. Both networks were outpaced by several other cable channels, including Nickelodeon and MTV. In comparison, Fox News enjoyed its highest-ever share of the 25-54 demographic, capturing a dominant 70% of the audience.
Fox News’ primetime shows, including “The Five,” “Special Report,” and “Hannity,” continued to perform strongly, with “The Five” leading the week with 4.1 million total viewers and 420,000 in the key demographic. Other shows like “Jesse Watters Primetime” and “Gutfeld!” also had significant viewership. Fox News dominated the cable news landscape, claiming 98 of the top 100 cable news telecasts for the week.
Daytime programming also favored Fox News, with shows such as “Outnumbered” and “America’s Newsroom” outperforming CNN and MSNBC in key time slots. “Cavuto Live” and “Sunday Morning Futures” also captured the top spots in weekend viewership, further solidifying Fox’s cable news dominance. In total, Fox News outperformed CNN by 407% in total day viewers and 577% in primetime, and surpassed MSNBC by 293% in total day viewers and 334% in primetime.
