Fox News Beats ABC, NBC & CBS in Summer Primetime Ratings Surprise

Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity
Fox News YouTube

What To Know

  • Fox News led summer ratings by surpassing both cable news competitors and major broadcast networks in weekday primetime viewership.
  • The network dominated cable news, with primetime and total day averages far ahead of MS NOW and CNN.
  • The Five was the top cable news show in August, while Fox & Friends remained the most-watched cable news morning show.

Fox News had a dominant performance throughout the summer months, not only topping its cable news rivals but also outpacing the competition on broadcast networks ABC, CBS, and NBC.

According to Fox News, citing data from Nielsen Media Research, since the start of summer (June to August), the network averaged 2.6 million total viewers during weekday primetime programming. This beat out NBC’s 2.5 million, ABC’s 2.3 million, and CBS’ 2 million.

The difference was even starker on cable in August, where Fox News averaged 2.1 million total viewers during the primetime hours of 8 to 11 pm. In comparison, MS NOW averaged 940,000, and CNN averaged 624,000. It was the same story in total day viewers, with Fox News averaging 1.4 million viewers to MS NOW’s 599,000 and CNN’s 439,000.

Fox News’ The Five finished as the most-watched cable news program during the day for August, averaging 3.3 million total viewers. Meanwhile, Jesse Watters Primetime topped the primetime rankings with an average of 2.9 million viewers.

Gutfeld!, Special Report with Bret Baier, Hannity, and The Ingraham Angle also finished on the most-watched list. The only non-Fox show to crack the Top 10 was MS NOW’s The Rachel Maddow Show, which finished sixth.

Fox and Friends finished the month with 1.2 million viewers, holding the No. 1 spot for most-watched cable news morning show.

Check out the August averages below.

Total Day

FNC: 1,354,000 total viewers
CNN: 439,000 total viewers
MS NOW: 599,000 total viewers

Primetime

FNC: 2,126,000 total viewers
CNN: 624,000 total viewers
MS NOW: 940,000 total viewers




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  1. T

    Truthteller

    You know what is the biggest joke of all. Fox is not even a real News network. They are registered as media entertainment. Over 2 million people watching this entertainment show. Which is exactly what it is are thinking they are actually getting the news. I would laugh but I have seen what it has done to are country. Between Fox and A.M. faux news radio. That spends all its time gaslighting it's audience. Into being afraid or angry about nonexistent threats. It's so very sad to see so many who think they are informed about current events and politics. Who in reality have no clue of what is really going on in the world. All caused by a foreign billionaire Rupert Murdoch. Who has made a joke out of American politics. People no longer have proper information to vote for their own best interest anymore

    1. H

      Hello mate

      No, electing a man with dementia made a joke out of American politics.

      1. R

        Reina Carmen

        Which man are you talking about - Reagan or Trump?

  2. B

    Ben

    NEWSMAX is better than all of them.

  3. N

    Nick

    I’m surprised that MS and CNN are that close?