Fox News Channel outdraws ABC, NBC in weekday primetime during April while dominating CNN, MS NOW

Fox News Channel averaged 3.2 million weekday primetime viewers during April to outdraw broadcast networks ABC and NBC. 

While Fox News topped the free TV offerings, it also continued to dominate cable by averaging 1.8 million total day viewers to finish No. 1 by a significant margin. MS NOW finished second with an average audience of 751,000 total viewers to trail Fox News by over one million viewers. 

During the primetime hours of 8-11 p.m., Fox News averaged 2.9 million viewers to thump all competitors, as ESPN finished second with 1.5 million, MS NOW managed 1.3 million and TBS averaged 1.1 million. 

FOX NEWS DIGITAL POSTS BEST QUARTER EVER WITH 187 MILLION MONTHLY UNIQUE VISITORS IN EARLY 2026

CNN failed to crack the one-million viewers benchmark during primetime as Fox News held nearly 60% of the cable news share across both total day and primetime.

Fox News also crushed cable news networks among the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults age 25-54, averaging 173,000 total day viewers compared to 92,000 for CNN and only 80,000 for MS NOW. It was much of the same during primetime, as Fox News averaged 284,000 demo viewers while CNN settled for 157,000 and MS NOW managed 135,000. 

"The Five," with Dana Perino, Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters, Jessica Tarlov and Harold Ford Jr., averaged 3.8 million total viewers to finish as the No. 1 show on cable news, 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," averaged 2.4 million viewers to finish seventh. However, "Maddow" only airs on Mondays.

FOX NEWS TOPS ALL NEWS BRANDS ON YOUTUBE WITH RECORD-SETTING 1.5 BILLION VIDEO VIEWS DURING Q1 2026

"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" all outdrew anything else MS NOW had to offer.

The most-watched CNN program during the news-heavy month was "Anderson Cooper 360," which finished No. 23 among cable news offerings. 

"FOX & Friends" finished the month with 1.4 million viewers and remained the No. 1 cable news program in the mornings for the 62nd consecutive month in the key demo. 

FOX NEWS CHANNEL WALLOPS CNN, MS NOW VIEWERSHIP DURING FIRST QUARTER OF 2026

April saw other milestones for Fox News, as "Hannity" had its best month of 2026, "Gutfeld!" marked its five-year anniversary leading all of late-night television and "Special Report" outdrew "CBS Evening News" in 20 key markets. 

Fox News also crushed the competition throughout the weekend, winning every hour with total viewers during April, defeating CNN and MS Now by double to triple-digits among both total viewers and the demo on Saturday and Sunday.

"FOX News Live" anchored by Aishah Hasnie averaged two million viewers to finish as the No. 1 show on Saturdays, while Maria Bartiromo’s "Sunday Morning Futures" took the Sunday crown with 2.3 million viewers. 

Ratings data courtesy of Nielsen Big Data + Panel.