TV Ratings: FNC Leads All-Cable, Growing Pains For CBS Evening News

During the week of February 3 -9, FOX News Channel (FNC) continued to lead all of cable television while securing 65% of the total day and primetime audience. 

Notably, FNC has now seen the top 695 cable news telecasts since Election Day. 

In primetime (8-11 PM/ET), FNC soared to 3.1 million viewers and 398,000 in the 25-54 demo, commanding all of cable with viewers. In total day (6AM-6AM/ET), FNC posted 2 million viewers and 258,000 in the 25-54 demo. FOX News’ daytime program The Story with Martha MacCallum beat ABC’s The View with viewers for the week. The Five was the most-watched show in cable with 4.8 million viewers and has now commanded over 4 million viewers for the 12th consecutive week. 

For the week, The Five averaged 4.8 million viewers and 563,000 in the 25-54 demo, leading cable news across the board. At 6 PM/ET, Special Report with Bret Baier drew 3.7 million viewers and 469,000 in the 25-54 demo. The Ingraham Angle saw 3.7 million viewers and 480,000 in the 25-54 demo at 7 PM/ET. At 8 PM/ET, Jesse Watters Primetime delivered 4.3 million viewers and 556,000 in the 25-54 demo. At 9 PM/ET, Hannity posted 3.5 million viewers and 464,000 with A25-54. At 11 PM/ET, FOX News @ Night secured 1.9 million viewers and 314,000 in the 25-54 demo.

Ratings Graphics Courtesy of RoadMN

FNC’s newest program The Will Cain Show continued to drive up the ratings at 4 PM/ET for FOX News commanding 2.8 million viewers and 348,000 in the 25-54 demo. Compared to this week in 2024, Cain boosted the audience by 89% with viewers and 110% in the 25-54 demo.

At 10 PM/ET, FNC’s late-night offering Gutfeld! secured 3.5 million viewers and 504,000 with A25-54. Gutfeld! once again topped the broadcast competition including CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (1,949,000 P2+; 308,000 A25-54), ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! (1,481,000 P2+; 229,000 A25-54) and NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (1,111,000 P2+; 270,000 A25-54). 

Daytime: FNC continued to see a number of programs outpace the broadcast competition. Most notably, The Story with Martha MacCallum (weekdays, 3 PM/ET; 2,598,000 P2+) led ABC’s The View (2,565,000 P2+). Outnumbered (weekdays, 12-1 PM/ET; 2,551,000 P2+), America Reports (weekdays, 1-3 PM/ET; 2,508,000 P2+), Harris Faulkner’s The Faulkner Focus (weekdays, 11 AM/ET; 2,427,000 P2+) and America’s Newsroom (weekdays, 9-11 AM/ET; 2,300,000 P2+) all led CBS This Morning (2,066,000 P2+), NBC’s Today Third Hour (1,917,000 P2+) and ABC’s GMA3 (1,429,000 P2+) with viewers.  

On Saturday: The Big Weekend Show (weekends, 6-8 PM/ET) was the most-watched show of the day with 2.2 million viewers and 232,000 in the 25-54 demo. Life, Liberty & Levin (Saturday, 8 PM/ET) led in primetime commanding 2.1 million viewers. One Nation with Brian Kilmeade (Saturday, 9 PM/ET) followed with 2 million viewers.

On Sunday: Maria Bartiromo’s Sunday Morning Futures was the top show of the day with 2.2 million viewers and 214,000 in the 25-54 demo. MediaBuzz (Sunday, 11 AM/ET) secured 1.8 million viewers.

Source: Nielsen. Live+SD. Week of 2-3-25 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.

📺BROADCAST EVENING NEWS

“World News Tonight with David Muir” ranked as the evening’s No. 1 newscast in all of broadcast and cable in Total Viewers (8.194 million), Adults 25-54 (1.172 million) and Adults 18-49 (795,000) during the week of Feb. 3, 2025, based on Live+Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research.“World News Tonight” outperformed “NBC Nightly News” (6.709 million, 1.003 million and 678,000, respectively) by 1.485 million Total Viewers, by 169,000 Adults 25-54 and by 117,000 Adults 18-49.

• “World News Tonight” widened its gaps week to week over “NBC Nightly News” in Total Viewers (+8% – 1.485 million vs. 1.378 million), Adults 25-54 (+284% – 169,000 vs. 44,000) and Adults 18-49 (+290% – 117,000 vs. 30,000).
• “World News Tonight” grew its margins year to year over “NBC Nightly News” in Total Viewers (+9% – 1.485 million vs. 1.360 million), Adults 25-54 (+101% – 169,000 vs. 84,000) and Adults 18-49 (+102% – 117,000 vs. 58,000).
• “World News Tonight” saw increases on the previous week in Adults 25-54 (+3%/+35,000 – 1.172 million vs. 1.137 million) and Adults 18-49 (+4%/+34,000 – 795,000 vs. 761,000), standing as the only evening newscast to grow week to week in the key Adult demos.
• “World News Tonight” improved on the same week last year in all key target demos: Total Viewers (+1%/+40,000 – 8.194 million vs. 8.124 million), Adults 25-54 (+7%/+74,000 – 1.172 million vs. 1.098 million) and Adults 18-49 (+9%/+64,000 – 795,000 vs. 731,000). “World News Tonight” was the only evening newscast to grow year to year in Total Viewers and Adults 25-54.

• For the week, “World News Tonight” (8.1914 million, 1.172 million and 795,000, respectively) defeated “CBS Evening News” (4.552 million, 666,000 and 433,000, respectively) by 3.642 million Total Viewers, by 506,000 Adults 25-54 and by 362,000 Adults 18-49.

The re-formulated CBS Evening News is being challenged to move to the ratings needle in the right direction. CBS Evening News finished the week 4.552 million total viewers and 666,000 A25-54 viewers for week-to-week declines of -5% and -3%, respectively. Compared to 2024, it was down -9% in total viewers and -7% in the demo. 

📺TV SHOW RATINGS RANKER

Ranking is based on ratings data as of Friday, February 7, 2025. The audience figures are derived from the latest Nielsen daily, weekly, or monthly P2+ program audience averages, whichever is the most recently available within the past seven-day window. Please note that some shows may not appear in the ranking probably because there are no ratings data for them within the stipulated period.