TV Ratings: Fox News Wins Second Week Of New Prime-Time Line-Up

With week two in the books, the reshuffled Fox News weekday primetime lineup continues to deliver audience growth on a week-to-week basis for the network, TV Newser reports.

For the full week of July 24, Fox News averaged 1.895 million primetime viewers, per live plus same day data from Nielsen.  That’s the largest average audience on basic cable, more total viewers than MSNBC and CNN combined, and +2% from the week prior (July 17, 2023). 

The network also averaged 191,000 A25-54 viewers in primetime, No. 8 on basic cable and +6% from the week prior. In total day viewing, Fox News averaged 1.12 million total viewers. That’s the largest audience on all of basic cable for the 30th consecutive week, and +3% from the week prior.  Additionally, Fox averaged 148,000 A25-54 in total day, No. 3 among basic cable networks and steady with the week prior.

Switching networks, MSNBC took the No. 2 spot in total primetime viewers this past week, averaging a total of 1.21 million viewers in the daypart. That’s +1% from the week before. However, the network averaged 117,000 A25-54 viewers in the daypart, which is No. 21 on basic cable and -3% from the week before. In total day, NBCU’s politics-focused cable channel struggled relative to the previous week. While still No. 2 on all of basic cable, the network averaged 779,000 total viewers, -2% from the prior week. Additionally, MSNBC averaged 77,000 A25-54, tied for No. 17 among all cable networks with CNN and -8% from the previous week.

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On the cable news programming front, The Five is the No. 1 show on cable news for the 13th consecutive week, averaging 2.73 million total viewers at 5 p.m. for the week of July 24. Fox News had eight of the 10 most-watched daily cable news shows this past week, including each of the top six.

The 8 p.m. Jesse Watters Primetime secured second place on cable news for the week behind The Five with a 2.49 million viewer average. That’s up from debut week, way up from the interim 8 p.m. offering, but down from the Tucker Carlson era.

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World News Tonight with David Muir” stood as the No. 1 program of the week in Total Viewers (7.351 million) on all of broadcast and cable for the 6th week in a row during the week of July 24, 2023, based on Live + Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research. 

“World News Tonight” ranked as the No. 1 newscast on all of broadcast and cable in Total Viewers (7.531 million), Adults 25-54 (1.064 million) and Adults 18-49 (745,000). “World News Tonight” outperformed “NBC Nightly News” (5.951 million, 945,000 and 646,000, respectively) by 1.570 million Total Viewers, by 119,000 Adults 25-54 and by 99,000 Adults 18-49. 

• “World News Tonight” widened its lead over the NBC program year to year in Total Viewers (+16% – 1.570 million vs. 1.357 million). 
• “World News Tonight” was up versus the previous week in Total Viewers (+1%/+72,000 – 7.531 million vs. 7.459 million), hitting a 4-week high ― since w/o 6/26/23. 
• “World News Tonight” has won the last 243 of 244 weeks in Total Viewers and 172 of the last 174 in Adults 25-54. 

Season to date, “World News Tonight” (8.173 million) is ranking No. 1 in Total Viewers for the 7th straight year, based on Most Current Data. “World News Tonight” is leading “NBC Nightly News” (6.825 million) by 1.348 million and “CBS Evening News” (4.895 million) by 3.278 million. In addition, “World News Tonight” is increasing its lead compared to its lead at the same point last season by 4% over NBC (1.348 million vs. 1.291 million) and by 1% over CBS (3.278 million vs. 3.250 million). 

“World News Tonight” is ranking No. 1 in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 for the 4th season in a row. “World News Tonight” is leading NBC in Adults 25-54 (+188,000 – 1.310 million vs. 1.122 million) and in Adults 18-49 (+130,000 – 911,000 vs. 781,000). In addition, “World News Tonight” is leading “CBS Evening News” (764,000 and 514,000, respectively) by 546,000 Adults 25-54 and by 397,000 Adults 18-49.