Fox News Leads Cable During Primetime, Total Day

During the week of July 1-7, FOX News Channel (FNC) led all of cable television with both primetime and total day viewers during the holiday week. 

In terms of the cable news competition, FNC led CNN and MSNBC combined across primetime and total day with viewers and A25-54. 

In primetime (8-11 PM/ET), FNC earned 2.1 million viewers and 242,000 in the 25-54 demo, commanding all of cable with viewers. In total day (6 AM-6 AM/ET), FNC posted 1,379,000 viewers and 174,000 in the 25-54 demo, outpacing all of cable with viewers. 

Following the debate the week prior, CNN was down the most in cable news seeing drop offs of 61% with primetime viewers and 76% with primetime A25-54, seeing just 542,000 viewers and 99,000 in the 25-54 demo. 

In terms of cable news share, FNC commanded 59% of total day and primetime viewers for the week, its best week with total day share since 2022 and best week with weekday daytime share since 2021. MSNBC also saw yearly lows across total day (569,000 P2+; 56,000 A25-54) and primetime (77,000 A25-54). CNN had weekend total lows with total day A25-54 going back to 1997.

The Five averaged 3.3 million viewers and 298,000 in the 25-54 demo, making it the most-watched show in cable news. At 6 PM/ET, Special Report with Bret Baier drew 2.3 million viewers and 239,000 in the 25-54 demo. At 8 PM/ET, Jesse Watters Primetime delivered 2.7 million viewers and 295,000 in the 25-54 demo. At 9 PM/ET, Hannity posted 2.5 million viewers and 289,000 with A25-54. At 11 PM/ET, FOX News @ Night secured 1.4 million viewers and 212,000 in the 25-54 demo. At 10 PM/ET, FNC’s late-night offering Gutfeld! saw its most-watched week since launch with 2,554,000 viewers and 371,000 in the 25-54 demo. 

Gutfeld! also topped a number of broadcast programs as the late-night shows took the week off. The show outpaced ABC’s Good Morning America (2,553,000 P2+), NBC’s The Today Show (2,524,000 P2+) and ESPN’s airing of the Yankees vs. Red Sox game on MLB Sunday Night (2,359,000 P2+).

FNC also saw several programming highs for the year with Outnumbered (1,957,000 P2+), The Story (1,822,000 P2+), America’s Newsroom (219,000 A25-54) and America Reports (207,000 A25-54) each seeing its best weeks in each respective category.

On Saturday, Life, Liberty & Levin (weekends, 8 PM/ET) was the most-watched show in primetime with 1,410,000 viewers. FOX & Friends Weekend (weekends, 6-10 AM/ET) was the top show in the 25-54 demo with 158,000 viewers. The Big Weekend Show (Saturday, 7 PM/ET) posted 1.3 million viewers and 144,000 in the 25-54 demo. One Nation with Brian Kilmeade (Saturday, 9 PM/ET) secured 1.3 million viewers.

On Sunday, Sunday Night in America (Sunday, 9 PM/ET) was the most-watched show of the entire weekend with 1,602,000 viewers. Sunday Morning Futures secured 1,537,000 viewers and 190,000 in the 25-54 demo.

Source: Nielsen. Live+SD. Week of 7-1-24 ratings data. Average audience for cable news networks Monday-Sunday based on Total Day and Prime (6a-6a, 8P-11P), P2+, P25-54, P18-49. Cable News/Broadcast Program averages exclude repeats and include the corresponding program name.