Fox News Channel outdraws ABC, NBC in weekday primetime during April
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Fox News Channel averaged 3.2 million weekday prime time viewers in April, outpacing broadcast networks ABC and NBC.
While Fox News remained at the top of free TV offerings, it also maintained its dominance in cable with an average of 1.8 million total daily viewers, ranking No. 1 by a significant margin. MS NOW came in second to Fox News with an average audience of 751,000 total viewers, behind Fox News with more than a million viewers.
Fox News surpassed all its competitors with an average of 2.9 million viewers during the prime time hours between 20.00 and 23.00 in the evening, while ESPN ranked second with 1.5 million viewers, MS NOW with 1.3 million and TBS with an average of 1.1 million viewers.
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Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity and Greg Gutfeld. (FOX News Media)
CNN failed to break the one-million-viewer benchmark during prime time, as Fox News held nearly 60% of the cable news share both overall for the day and throughout prime time.
Fox News also crushed cable news networks among the adult 25-54 demographic that advertisers covet; It averaged 173,000 total daily viewers compared to CNN’s 92,000 and MS NOW’s just 80,000. Fox News averaged 284,000 demo viewers, while CNN settled for 157,000 and MS NOW managed 135,000.
“The Five,” featuring Dana Perino, Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters, Jessica Tarlov and Harold Ford Jr., ranked No. 1 in cable news, averaging 3.8 million total viewers, followed by “Jesse Watters Primetime,” “Hannity,” “Gutfeld!”, “Special Report with Bret Baier” and “The Ingraham Angle.”
MS NOW’s most watched program, “The Rachel Maddow Show,” ranked seventh with an average of 2.4 million viewers. But “Maddow” only airs on Mondays.
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“Hannity” averaged 3.2 million viewers in April and 319,000 in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demo, its best month of the year. (FOX News Media)
“The Will Cain Show,” “Outnumbered” with co-hosts Harris Faulkner, Emily Compagno and Kayleigh McEnany, “The Story” with Martha MacCallum, “America Reports” with Sandra Smith and John Roberts, “America’s Newsroom” with Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino, “The Faulkner Focus” and “FOX News @ Night with Trace Gallagher” beat out every other show MS NOW had to offer.
The most watched CNN program in the month of high news intensity was “Anderson Cooper 360”, which ranked 23rd among cable news programs.
“FOX & Friends” finished the month with 1.4 million viewers and remained the No. 1 morning cable news program in the key demo for the 62nd consecutive month.
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“FOX & Friends” continued to crush cable news morning shows. (FOX News Media)
April saw other milestones for Fox News; “Hannity” had the best month of 2026, “Gutfeld!” It celebrated its fifth year as the leader in all-night television programming, with “Special Report” surpassing “CBS Evening News” in 20 key markets.
Fox News also crushed the competition over the weekend, winning every hour in total viewers throughout April, beating CNN and MS Now by double-to-triple digits in both total viewers and the demo on Saturday and Sunday.
“FOX News Live” hosted by Aishah Hasnie was the No. 1 show on Saturdays, averaging two million viewers, while Maria Bartiromo’s “Sunday Morning Futures” took the Sunday crown with 2.3 million viewers.
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Ratings data courtesy of Nielsen Big Data + Panel.
