Fox News leaves rivals in the dust with historic Q2 ratings, posts viewership wins over ABC, NBC, CBS
Fox News Channel crushed cable news competitors and continued to close in on the broadcast competition, surpassing ABC and NBC among viewers during the second quarter and topping CBS among both total viewers and the demo for the month of June.
Last week, Fox News' breaking news coverage of the U.S. strike on Iran's nuclear facilities led all television, including ABC, NBC and CBS. Fox News was also the ratings leader during breaking news of the death of Pope Francis the Army 250th birthday parade and other major events during the jam-packed quarter.
Along the way, Fox News Channel averaged 1.6 million total day viewers to lead all basic cable options during the second quarter, while topping MSNBC's average audience of 596,000 and CNN's 406,000 combined. Fox News has now been No. 1 in all cable among total day viewers for 17 straight quarters.
During primetime, Fox News crushed all competitors with an average audience of 2.6 million. TNT finished second with 1.7 million, followed by MSNBC's one million. CNN averaged only 538,000 to finish outside the top five cable networks.
It was the sixth straight quarter that saw Fox News finish No. 1 among both total day and primetime viewers.
Fox News crushed CNN and MSNBC among the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults age 25-54, too, averaging 202,000 total day viewers among the critical group, compared to 71,000 for CNN and only 57,000 for MSNBC.
It was much of the same during primetime, as Fox News commanded 304,000 average demo viewers while CNN managed only 105,000 and MSNBC settled for 91,000.
The quarter marked Fox News' second highest-rated second quarter in network history among weekday total day viewers, behind only 2020's coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fox News continued to occupy more than half the cable news share with 62% of the audience among total day and 63% in primetime.
"The Five," with Dana Perino, Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters, Jessica Tarlov and Harold Ford Jr., averaged 3.9 million total viewers and 410,000 among the demo to lead cable news across the board. "The Five" made history as the first non-primetime program to ever finish as the most-watched cable news offering for 15 consecutive quarters. It also outdrew key broadcast programs, including "CBS Evening News."
"Jesse Watters Primetime" averaged 3.4 million total viewers and 396,000 in the demo to finish second in both categories.
"Special Report with Bret Baier" dominated its timeslot, averaging nearly three million viewers for the quarter. Baier's exclusive interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month reached an audience of 30 million across linear, streaming and social media platforms, including 5.5 million video views across YouTube, according to Emplifi.
"The Ingraham Angle", "Hannity" and "FOX News @ Night" also had stellar quarters as Fox News delivered 14 of the top 15 shows in cable news.
"Gutfeld!" topped 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."
"FOX & Friends" and "FOX & Friends First" remained cable news' most-watched morning shows throughout the quarter, while "America's Newsroom" with Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer, "The Faulkner Focus," "Outnumbered," "America Reports with John Roberts and Sandra Smith," "The Story with Martha MacCallum" and "The Will Cain Show" all dominated their timeslots among cable news competition and surpassed a variety of broadcast offerings, including "CBS Mornings" and NBC's "Today Third Hour."
Fox News also continued to thump the competition throughout the weekend for the quarter, outpacing CNN and MSNBC combined across both total day and primetime viewers. "The Big Weekend Show" was the most-watched show on Saturdays, while Maria Bartiromo's "Sunday Morning Futures" took the Sunday crown.
Fox News finished the quarter strong, topping cable news during June among total viewers for the 52nd consecutive month. Fox News averaged 1.8 million total viewers during June compared to 593,000 for MSNBC and only 446,000 for CNN.
It was also the 53rd straight month that Fox News outdrew CNN and MSNBC during primetime. Fox News averaged 2.8 million primetime viewers to lead all of cable, while MSNBC managed 955,000 and CNN settled for 642,000.
Fox News continued its dominance among the advertiser-coveted demo, averaging 220,000 total viewers ages 25-54, compared to 83,000 for CNN and a dismal 60,000 for MSNBC.
HGTV, Food Network, Comedy Central, USA, TBS, TNT and ESPN all also outdrew MSNBC in the critical category.
"Hannity" finished June as the No. 1 program among the key demo. It was Fox News' second highest-rated June ever among both total viewers and the demo, behind only June 2020.
Ratings data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.
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