Fox News Channel had the highest-rated quarter among weekday total viewers in cable news history during the first quarter of 2025, also topping broadcast competition in key measurables along the way.
During the historic quarter, Fox News averaged 2.2 million total day viewers on weekdays as Americans relied on the network for information and analysis during a momentous news cycle.
Fox News also finished No. 1 in all of cable during the primetime hours of 8-11 p.m., averaging over three million viewers to trounce all other networks. ESPN finished second with 2.3 million total primetime viewers, and MSNBC finished third with a smidge over one million. Fox News has now marked 93 consecutive quarters as the most-watched cable news network in primetime.
CNN averaged only 558,000 and lost to HGTV and Hallmark as the network’s primetime lineup continues to struggle.
It was Fox News’ highest quarter cable news share ever, dwarfing with 65% of the audience in total day and 66% in primetime. Fox News saw double-digit year-over-year growth in all categories while CNN and MSNBC saw declines across the board in both total day and primetime.
Fox News’ primetime lineup also outdrew broadcast competition on NBC and ABC for the entire quarter.
Fox News completely dominated cable news among the key demographic of adults aged 25-54, averaging 247,000 total day viewers among the advertiser-coveted group compared to 79,000 for CNN. It was CNN lowest rated quarter ever in the category and the fourth time since the beginning of 2024 that CNN has had an all-time low.
During primetime, Fox News averaged 380,000 demo viewers compared to 121,000 for CNN.
MSNBC’s ongoing struggles in the critical category continued, as it managed only 57,000 total day viewers among the demo to finish behind options including Investigation Discovery, FX, HGTV, Food Network.
MSNBC’s turnout was even worse during primetime, as the liberal network managed only 96,000 primetime viewers among the key demo to finish behind 18 different cable news offerings, including A&E, Nick-at-Nite, Comedy Central and Adult Swim. It was MSNBC’s sixth lowest-rated quarter ever and things aren’t expected to get any easier in the second quarter when "The Rachel Maddow Show" reverts to only airing once a week following President Trump’s first 100 days in office.
"The Five" averaged 4.6 million viewers to finish as the No. 1 show on cable news as Fox News programs occupied the top 12 spots.
"The Five," with Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters, Dana Perino, Jeanine Pirro and rotating co-hosts Jessica Tarlov and Harold Ford Jr., made cable news history as the first non-primetime program to be the most watched by viewers for 14 consecutive quarters. It also surpassed broadcast programs including "American Idol," "Survivor" and "The Neighborhood."
"Special Report with Bret Baier," which featured exclusive newsworthy interviews including sit-downs with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Elon Musk and his DOGE team, dominated its timeslot with an average audience of 3.5 million viewers. "Special Report" even outdrew "CBS Evening News" five times during the first quarter.
"Gutfeld!" continued to break records as it delivered its highest-rated quarter in program history with 3.3 million viewers, topping all broadcast and late-night television, including CBS’ "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," ABC’s "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," NBC’s "The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon," "Late Night with Seth Meyers," CBS’ "After Midnight" and Comedy Central’s "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."
"Jesse Watters Primetime," "Hannity," "The Ingraham Angle," "The Will Cain Show," "Outnumbered," "The Faulkner Focus," "America Reports" with John Roberts and Sandra Smith, Martha MacCallum’s "The Story" and America’s Newsroom with Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer" all also topped anything MSNBC or CNN had to offer, while "FOX News @ Night" and "FOX & Friends" also dominated their timeslots.
"America’s Newsroom," "The Faulkner Focus," "Outnumbered" and "America Reports" all had their highest-rated quarters of all time.
MSNBC’s "The Rachel Maddow Show" finished No. 13 as the most-watched program that doesn’t air on Fox News with nearly two million viewers. CNN’s most-popular program was "The Lead with Jake Tapper," which averaged 662,000 total viewers to finish No. 26 among cable news shows.
Fox News also continued to shine throughout the weekend during the quarter, thumping CNN and MSNBC across both total day and primetime among total viewers and winning every hour of the day, topping the liberal outlets combined among total viewers.
More Independents and Democrats continued to tune in to Fox News over any other cable network, according to data from Nielsen MRI Fusion. This helped Fox News dominate coverage of political events, topping all of television with coverage of Inauguration Day and President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress.
"Hannity" landed the first joint interview with President Trump and Elon Musk on February 18, which drew a staggering average audience of 5.4 million.
📺BROADCAST EVENING NEWS:
For the 5th consecutive year, ABC News’ “World News Tonight with David Muir” won the 1st quarter in Total Viewers (8.132 million), Adults 25-54 (1.158 million) and Adults 18-49 (806,000), based on Most Current Data from Nielsen Media Research.
In addition, “World News Tonight” has won in overall viewers and in the key Adult news demo for the 21st straight quarter and has stood as the most-watched evening newscast for the 32nd quarter in a row — since 1Q20 and 2Q17, respectively.
- “World News Tonight” outperformed “NBC Nightly News” (6.598 million, 983,000 and 652,000) by 1.534 million Total Viewers, by 154,000 Adults 25-54 and by 175,000 Adults 18-49.
- “World News Tonight” widened its margins over “NBC Nightly News” compared to the year-ago quarter (1Q24) by double digits in Total Viewers (+17% – 1.534 million vs. 1.309 million), Adults 25-54 (+24% – 175,000 vs. 141,000) and Adults 18-49 (+38% – 154,000 vs. 112,000). “World News Tonight” posted its largest 1st quarter margins in 4 years in Total Viewers and Adults 18-49, and in 3 years in Adults 25-54 — since 1Q21 and 1Q22, respectively.
- “World News Tonight” saw gains versus the same quarter last year (1Q24) in Total Viewers (+12,000 – 8.132 million vs. 8.120 million), Adults 25-54 (+24,000/+2% – 1.158 million vs. 1.134 million) and Adults 18-49 (+34,000/+4% – 806,000 vs. 772,000). In addition, “World News Tonight” stood as the only evening newscast to grow from the year-ago quarter.
- “World News Tonight” increased its lead over NBC versus the previous quarter (4Q24) in Total Viewers (1.534 million vs. 1.530 million) and Adults 18-49 (+9% – 154,000 vs. 141,000).
- “World News Tonight” improved on the previous quarter (4Q24) in Total Viewers (+290,000/+7% – 8.132 million vs. 7.596 million), Adults 25-54 (+80,000/+8% – 1.158 million vs. 1.064 million) and Adults 18-49 (+59,000/+9% – 806,000 vs. 737,000). “World News Tonight” saw its most-watched quarter in 2 years and posted its best numbers in both key Adult demos in nearly 2 years — since 1Q23 and 2Q23, respectively.
- For the 1st quarter, “World News Tonight” (8.132 million, 1.158 million and 806,000, respectively) beat “CBS Evening News” (4.586 million, 657,000 and 439,000, respectively) by 3.546 million Total Viewers, by 501,000 Adults 25-54 and by 367,000 Adults 18-49.
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