Fox News Wins Prime Time Ratings, But CNN Leads In Key Demo

Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson Tonight was the most-watched show in cable news last week, delivering a total prime time audience of 4.2 million viewers—ratings high enough to outdistance some of the prime time entertainment airing on the broadcast networks that traditionally reach some of the largest audiences in all of television.

FNC’s Hannity was second overall, with a total audience of 3.7 million as Fox News easily won the prime time race with an average audience of 3.08 million viewers. That put Fox on top of the most-watched cable networks for the week, ahead of ESPN (2.697 million viewers), MSNBC (2.253 million viewers), CNN (2.083 million viewers) and the Hallmark Channel (1.424 million viewers).

But among viewers 25-54, the demographic group most valued by national advertisers, CNN took first place on the week with an average audience of 538,000 viewers, followed by Fox News Channel (500,000 viewers) and MSNBC (363,000 viewers). CNN also finished atop the cable news competition for total day ratings in the key demo, with 354,000 viewers, followed by Fox News (254,000 viewers) and MSNBC (221,000 viewers). Fox News won total day viewership overall with 1.5 million viewers, followed by CNN (1.42 million viewers) and MSNBC (1.41 million viewers).

CNN’s wins notwithstanding, Fox News continues to lead with double-digit advantages over CNN and MSNBC in total day and prime ratings for 2020 year-to-date, and the network reports viewership climbing in both categories since the 2020 election.