Fox News Channel finishes highest-rated first 100 days in cable news history with dominant April
Fox News finished April with a larger weekday primetime audience than ABC and NBC while dominating cable with the highest-rated first 100 days of an administration in history.
Fox News Channel finished April with a larger weekday primetime audience than ABC and NBC while dominating cable with the highest-rated first 100 days of an administration in cable news history.
Fox News finished April with 3.1 million average viewers during weekday primetime, making it the second highest-rated network in all of television as ABC settled for 2.9 million and NBC delivered 2.8 million.
The month wrapped up as President Donald Trump hit the 100th day of his second administration, and Fox News averaged 1.9 million total day viewers and three million in primetime during the historic first 100 days. Fox News viewership was up 25% compared to the first 100 days of the Biden administration in 2021 and up 8% compared to Trump’s first term, while both CNN and MSNBC saw double-digit collapses of their audiences over the same time period.
As Fox News thrived, CNN shed nearly 60% of viewers across both total day and primetime compared to the first 100 days of the Biden administration.
Fox News averaged 1.6 million total day viewers to dominate basic cable during April, as No. 2 MSNBC managed only 656,000 total day viewers followed by 604,000 for ESPN. CNN settled for only 411,000 total day viewers as Fox News topped MSNBC and CNN combined. It was the 50th month in a row that Fox News topped cable among total day viewers.
During primetime, Fox News averaged 2.6 million viewers in April compared to 1.4 million for No. 2 ESPN. MSNBC averaged 1.2 million primetime viewers and CNN averaged just 519,000 as Fox News topped the liberal networks combined in that category, too.
Fox News has now topped cable news for 51 straight months during primetime.
It was the third highest-rated April in Fox News history among both total day and primetime viewers.
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In the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults 25-54, Fox News averaged 202,000 total day key viewers compared to 68,000 for CNN and only 62,000 for MSNBC. CNN had its worst month ever in the category, finishing below 70,000 total day demo viewers for only the second time since 1997.
In primetime, Fox News averaged 296,000 viewers from the critical demo while MSNBC managed 105,000 and CNN delivered only 99,000.
Despite the busy news cycle as Trump’s first 100 days of his second term wrapped up, Discovery Channel, History, HGTV, ESPN2, TLC, Bravo and the Food Network were among the 13 basic cable offerings to outdraw CNN’s primetime lineup in the key demo.
It was nearly CNN’s worst performance of all time in the category, and just the third time the struggling network failed to crack the 100,000-viewer benchmark among the primetime demo since 1997.
Fox News swept cable news among total day and primetime in both total viewers and the demo for the 50th consecutive month.
"The Five," with Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters, Dana Perino, Jeanine Pirro and rotating co-hosts Jessica Tarlov and Harold Ford Jr., averaged 4.1 million total viewers and 447,000 in the key demo to lead cable news in both categories.
While "The Five" dominated cable news, it also topped broadcast programs such as CBS’ "The Neighborhood," "NCIS Sydney," NBC’s "Law and Order" and "CBS Evening News."
It wasn’t the only Fox News offering to outdraw broadcast programs.
"Special Report with Bret Baier" averaged over three million viewers to top evening newscasts on CBS, NBC and ABC in a variety of markets and "Gutfeld!" averaged 3.1 million viewers to defeat ABC’s "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," NBC’s "The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon" and "Late Night with Seth Meyers."
"The Ingraham Angle" averaged 2.9 million viewers as Laura Ingraham continued her reign as the highest-rated woman in cable news, "Jesse Watters Primetime" topped all primetime programs with 3.6 million viewers and 421,000 in the critical demo and "Hannity" averaged 2.9 million viewers and 346,000 in the demo to dominate its timeslot, including MSNBC’s "The Rachel Maddow Show."
"FOX & Friends" averaged 1.4 million total viewers and 192,000 in the demo, finishing as the No. 1 morning program on cable news for the 50th straight month.
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"FOX & Friends First," "America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino," "The Faulkner Focus" anchored by Harris Faulkner, "America Reports" with John Roberts and Sandra Smith, Martha MacCallum’s "The Story," "The Will Cain Show" and "FOX News @ Night" all had robust April audiences as Fox News has aired the top 980 cable news telecasts since Election Day.
Fox News also continued to shine against the competition during the weekend, winning every hour among total viewers and the-54 demo, while defeating CNN and MSNBC by double to triple-digits among both categories on Saturdays and Sundays.
"Life, Liberty & Levin" averaged 1.5 million viewers to finish as Saturday’s highest-rated show, while "Sunday Morning Futures" took the Sunday crown with 1.8 million.
Fox News also finished atop the demographic of adults ages 18-49 for 48 consecutive months as younger viewers continue to flock to the network.
More Democrats, Independents and Republicans tuned in to Fox News over any other cable network across total day, according to data from Nielsen MRI Fusion.
Ratings data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.
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