Fox News dominates 2024 viewership, topping CNN and MSNBC combined during unprecedented year of news

Fox News Channel obliterated competitors in 2024, finishing the year with its highest share of the cable news audience since 2015. 

The year featured an unprecedented news cycle that saw President Biden perform so poorly during an infamous presidential debate that he ultimately withdrew from the race, Vice President Kamala Harris emerge as the Democratic nominee without a primary and President-elect Donald Trump survive a pair of assassination attempts. All of that occurred ahead of November’s election ended with Trump’s decisive victory over Harris. 

The election-related chaos happened as wars in the Middle East and Ukraine continued, college campuses erupted with anti-Israel protests and everyone from Hunter Biden to Taylor Swift seemed to dominate news cycles. 

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Along the way, Fox News Channel averaged 1.5 million total day viewers and 2.4 million during primetime to top all cable options. Fox News has now finished No. 1 in both categories for nine-straight years and increased its audience by 21% among total day and 31% during primetime compared to 2023.

"Throughout coverage of a tumultuous political cycle, wars in the Middle East and major breaking news events, millions of viewers across the political spectrum continued to tune into Fox News Channel for our unrivaled reporting and analysis. I am extremely proud of our entire team for proving once again why we are the nation’s most-watched network as we outpaced the competition in covering the stories that mattered most to everyday Americans," FOX News Media CEO Suzanne Scott said. 

MSNBC averaged 807,000 total day viewers and CNN managed 488,000. During primetime, MSNBC averaged 1.7 million viewers from 8-11 p.m. ET and CNN settled for only 700,000 as Fox News topped them combined in both categories despite the historic year of news. 

It was Fox News’ highest share of the cable news audience in nearly a decade, as the network held 55% of the cable news audience in primetime and 53% in total day.

Fox News has finished No. 1 in cable news among both total day and primetime viewers for 23 years in a row. 

Fox News also crushed cable news competitors among the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults age 25-54, averaging 187,000 total day viewers in the critical demo compared to only 92,000 for CNN and 86,000 for MSNBC. It was much of the same during primetime, when Fox News averaged 298,000 demo viewers compared to 151,000 for CNN and only 137,000 for MSNBC. 

CNN finished the news-heavy year with its smallest audience in network history among both total day viewers and among the key demo. 

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"The Five," with Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters, Dana Perino, Jeanine Pirro and rotating co-hosts Jessica Tarlov and Harold Ford Jr., averaged 3.4 million viewers to finish as the No. 1 show on cable news for the third-straight year. "The Five" also closed strong, becaming the first non-primetime show to deliver over four million viewers during its highest-rated fourth quarter ever. 

Fox News programs "The Five," "Jesse Watters Primetime," "Hannity," "Gutfeld!," "The Ingraham Angle," "Special Report with Bret Baier," "Outnumbered," "The Faulkner Focus," "America’s Newsroom" with Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer, "America Reports" with John Roberts and Sandra Smith, Martha MacCallum’s "The Story" and "Your World with Neil Cavuto" all outdrew anything CNN and MSNBC had to offer among total viewers as FNC finished with the 12 most-watched shows on cable news. 

"Jesse Watters Primetime" was the most-watched cable news program during primetime, averaging 3.1 million viewers. 

"Gutfeld!" averaged a staggering 355,000 viewers in the key demo to lead all of cable news in the category that keeps the lights on, outdrawing broadcast shows CBS’ "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," NBC’s "The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon" and ABC’s "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" in the process.  

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 "FOX & Friends," "FOX & Friends First" and "FOX News @ Night" all had strong turnouts to help Fox News dominate the cable news landscape. In fact, Fox News programs made up 70 of the top 100 cable news telecasts and the network had the highest length of tune in the cable news across all categories. 

On weekends, Fox News had its highest share of the cable news audience among both total viewers and the key demo in network history. "Life, Liberty and Levin" finished as the most-watched show on Saturdays and "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo" took the Sunday crown. 

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Bret Baier’s interview with Vice President Kamala Harris secured nearly eight million viewers, making it the highest-rated interview of the election cycle.  

Americans relied on Fox News for information and analysis related to the critical presidential election. According to Nielsen Media Research, Fox News was the most watched cable news network in every swing state, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. 

FOX News Media’s coverage of election night topped all television networks with nearly 13.6 million viewers and 4.4 million in the demo while its broadcast of Vice President Kamala Harris’ concession speech was also No. 1 with nearly eight million viewers.

Fox News also made history with the highest-rated primetime convention coverage of all time during the RNC with 10.4 million total viewers and two million in demo from 10-11 p.m. ET. 

Since Trump’s Election Day victory, Fox News has dominated with 73% of the cable news audience in primetime as MSNBC and CNN hemorrhaged viewers. 

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All ratings data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.