According to the latest Nielsen Media Research, Fox News Channel is standing far ahead of its competitors, both in terms of ratings and viewership figures.
The takeaways:
- While MSNBC and CNN saw ratings victories for the daytime hours of 9-5 p.m. ET, Fox News was the overall most-watched cable news channel.
- Fox News achieved its highest-rated July ratings period in the network’s history, with an average prime time audience of 3.22 million viewers—an increase of 32% from the same time last year.
- The channel stood far ahead of its cable news rivals in terms of viewership, with MSNBC following it with 2.084 million primetime viewers (up 39% from 2019) and CNN, after that with an average audience of 1.510 million viewers.
- CNN enjoyed the largest year-over-year increase, up 89% in prime time.
By the numbers:
- According to Forbes, Fox News Channel’s Hannity was the highest-rated show on cable news, averaging at 4.10 million viewers. Tucker Carlson Tonight was second with 4.02 million viewers, and The Ingraham Angle at 3.42 million viewers, was third.
- MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow was the only non-Fox News show to finish July in the top five.
- Fox News Channel’s July performance marked 49 consecutive months as the highest-rated network in the cable TV industry, and 223 consecutive months as the top-rated cable news network in both primetime and total day viewership.
The roll-up: These are stunning figures for the channel at a time when many traditional TV networks are struggling to maintain pre-pandemic viewership levels.
