TV Ratings: FOX News Channel Maintains Dominance

During the week of May 5-11, FOX News Channel secured 96 of the top 100 cable news telecasts, bringing the network’s post-election total to 1,043. 

Key Dayparts:

• In total day (6 AM-6 AM/ET), FNC posted 1.6 million viewers and 189,000 in the 25-54 demo leading all of cable.  
• In weekday primetime, FNC (2.9 million viewers) outpaced ABC (2.7 million viewers). 
• In primetime (8-11 PM/ET), FNC averaged 2.5 million viewers and 256,000 in the 25-54 demo.

In its first week since Rachel Maddow scaled back to one show per week, MSNBC’s 9 PM/ET hour led by Jen Psaki from Tuesday – Friday lost 34% of its viewers and 36% in the 25-54 demo vs. the 2025 9 PM/ET average with just 1,221,000 P2+ and 105,000 in the 25-54 demo. At 7 PM/ET, MSNBC’s The Weeknight slumped to 817,000 viewers and 78,000 in the 25-54 demo, down 11% with viewers and down 20% in the demo vs. the hour’s 2025 average. 

FNC’s coverage of the election of Pope Leo XIV on Thursday delivered 3.7 million viewers and 667,000 in the 25-54 demo during the 1 PM/ET hour, dominating CNN (1.5 million viewers; 326,000 A25-54) and MSNBC (974,000 viewers; 127,000 A25-54) combined.  This was the top-rated hour of the day for FOX News Channel and also surpassed CBS (3.1 million viewers; 529,000 A25-54) and NBC (2.2 million viewers; 527,000 A25-54). 

For the week: The Five averaged 3.8 million viewers and 363,000 in the 25-54 demo, leading cable news in all categories. In fact, The Five secured more viewers than CBS Evening News for the week. At 6 PM/ET, Special Report with Bret Baier drew 2.7 million viewers and 263,000 in the 25-54 demo. 

• The Ingraham Angle saw 2.6 million viewers and 291,000 in the 25-54 demo at 7 PM/ET. 
• At 8 PM/ET, Jesse Watters Primetime delivered 3.3 million viewers and 345,000 in the 25-54 demo. 
• At 9 PM/ET, Hannity posted 2.7 million viewers and 301,000 with A25-54. At 11 PM/ET, FOX News @ Night secured 1.5 million viewers and 199,000 in the 25-54 demo.
• At 10 PM/ET, FNC’s late-night offering Gutfeld! secured 2.9 million viewers and 326,000 with A25-54. 

Gutfeld! once again topped the broadcast competition including CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (1,879,000 viewers; 275,000 A25-54), ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! (1,356,000 viewers; 252,000 A25-54) and NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (1,070,000 viewers; 255,000 A25-54). 

FNC continued to see its daytime programs outpace the broadcast competition. Outnumbered (weekdays, 12 PM/ET; 2,196,000 viewers), America Reports (weekdays, 1-3 PM/ET; 2,105,000 viewers), The Will Cain Show (weekdays, 4 PM/ET; 2,098,000 viewers), America’s Newsroom (weekdays, 9-11 AM/ET; 1,942,000 viewers), Harris Faulkner’s The Faulkner Focus (weekdays, 11 AM/ET; 1,912,000 viewers) and The Story with Martha MacCallum (weekdays, 3 PM/ET; 1,876,000 viewers) all led NBC’s Today Third Hour (1,629,000 viewers), ABC’s GMA3 (1,274,000 viewers), NBC’s Today with Jenna & Friends (1,157,00 viewers) and NBC News Daily (1,051,000 viewers) with viewers. 

On Saturday: Life, Liberty & Levin (weekends, 8 PM/ET) was the most-watched show of the day with 1.4 million viewers. FOX News Live (Saturday, 10 AM-2 PM/ET) was the top show in the 25-54 demo with 164,000 viewers. FOX & Friends Weekend (weekends, 6-10 AM/ET) was second in cable news with 1.3 million viewers and 160,000 in the 25-54 demo. FOX News Saturday Night with Jimmy Failla (Saturday, 10 PM/ET) saw 1.1 million viewers and 102,000 in the 25-54 demo.

On Sunday:  Maria Bartiromo’s Sunday Morning Futures (Sunday, 10 AM/ET) was the top show of the weekend with 1.6 million viewers and 170,000 in the 25-54 demo. Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy (Sunday, 9 PM/ET) was the number one show in primetime with 1.5 million viewers, while Life, Liberty & Levin was the top primetime show in the 25-54 demo with 147,000 viewers. At 10 PM/ET, One Nation with Brian Kilmeade posted 1.5 million viewers. FOX News Live was number two in the 25-54 demo with 157,000 viewers.

Source: Nielsen. Live+SD. Week of 5-5-25 ratings data. Average audience for cable news networks Monday-Sunday based on Total Day and Prime (6a-6a, 8P-11P), P2+, P25-54. Cable News/Broadcast Program averages exclude repeats and include the corresponding program name.

📺BROACAST EVENING NEWS

Led by anchor and managing editor David Muir from the Vatican, “World News Tonight with David Muir” stood as America’s most-watched weekday program in Total Viewers (7.268 million) on all of broadcast and cable and ranked as the No. 1 newscast across the board in Total Viewers (7.268 million), Adults 25-54 (971,000) and Adults 18-49 (698,000) during the week of May 5, 2025, based on Live+Same Day Data from Nielsen Media Research.“World News Tonight” ranked as the No. 1 telecast of the day on Monday (7.461 million), Tuesday (7.655 million), Wednesday (7.074 million), Thursday (7.444) and Friday (6.706 million).

On Thursday (5/8/25), ABC News’ special coverage for the papal conclave announcement of Pope Leo XIV(12:08-2:00 p.m. EDT), led by Muir, outperformed its closest competitor, Fox News (12:00-2:00 p.m. EDT), by +5% in Total Viewers (3.457 million vs. 3.295 million), by +5% in Adults 25-54 (615,000 vs. 583,000) and by +11% in Adults 18-49 (504,000 vs. 454,000) and CBS and NBC by double digits.

• “World News Tonight” outdelivered “NBC Nightly News” (5.639 million, 789,000 and 503,000, respectively) by 1.639 million Total Viewers, by 182,000 Adults 25-54 and by 195,000 Adults 18-49.
• “World News Tonight” widened its lead week to week over “NBC Nightly News” by double digits in Total Viewers (+44% – 1.629 million vs. 1.133 million), Adults 25-54 (+77% – 182,000 vs. 103,000) and Adults 18-49 (+73% – 195,000 vs. 113,000).
• “World News Tonight” also increased its margins over “NBC Nightly News” versus the same week last year by double digits in Total Viewers (+22% – 1.629 million vs. 1.336 million), Adults 25-54 (+20% – 182,000 vs. 152,000) and Adults 18-49 (+49% – 195,000 vs. 131,000).
• “World News Tonight” was up over the previous week in Total Viewers (+4%/+255,000 – 7.268 million vs. 7.013 million) and Adults 18-49 (+3%/+19,000 – 698,000 vs. 679,000).
• “World News Tonight” improved on the same week last year in Total Viewers (+29,000 – 7.268 million vs. 7.239 million) and Adults 18-49 (+7%/+44,000 – 698,000 vs. 654,000).

• “World News Tonight” (7.268 million, 971,000 and 698,000, respectively) defeated “CBS Evening News” (3.637 million, 502,000 and 347,000, respectively) by 3.631 million Total Viewers, by 469,000 Adults 25-54 and by 351,000 Adults 18-49.
• “World News Tonight” saw its gap over “CBS Evening News” grow week to week in Total Viewers (+8% – 3.631 million vs. 3.376 million) and Adults 18-49 (+10% – 351,000 vs. 319,000).
• For the 9th week running, “World News Tonight” increased its advantage over “CBS Evening News” from the year-ago week in Total Viewers (+24% – 3.631 million vs. 2.925 million), Adults 25-54 (+31% – 469,000 vs. 358,000) and Adults 18-49 (+48% – 351,000 vs. 237,000).

📺TV SHOWS RANKER

Ranking is based on ratings data as of Thursday, May 8, 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.