Fox News Tops October Ratings, But Viewership Drops Vs. 2025; MS NOW And CNN Show Gains As Midterms Approach

Fox News again topped October ratings by a wide margin, but its viewership fell during the month when compared to the same period in 2025.

MS NOW and CNN, meanwhile, showed gains, likely driven by the approaching midterms.

In primetime, Fox News averaged 1.68 million viewers, down 28% from the same period in 2025. MS NOW averaged 925,000, up 14%, and CNN posted 598,000, up 19%. In the 25-54 demographic, Fox News averaged 145,000, down 36%, compared to 107,000 for CNN, up 39%, and 95,000 for MS NOW, up 30%.

In total day, Fox News averaged 1.1 million viewers, down 27%, compared to 588,000 for MS NOW, up 16%, and 402,000 for CNN, up 3%. In the 25-54 demo, Fox News averaged 98,000, down 33%, compared to MS NOW with 62,000, up 38%, and CNN with 60,000, up 2%.

Fox News’ viewership also was down in the third quarter, by 17% in primetime and 16% total day.

The network still had the top five shows in cable news, led by The Five, which averaged 2.7 million total viewers, followed by Jesse Watters Primetime with 2.34 million, Special Report with Bret Baier at 2.02 million, Gutfeld! with 1.98 million and The Ingraham Angle with 1.94 million. In the 25-54 demo, The Five averaged 238,000, followed by Gutfeld! with 191,000, Jesse Watters Primetime with 189,000, Hannity with 184,000 and The Rachel Maddow Show with 184,000.

MS NOW’s top show was The Rachel Maddow Show, averaging 1.72 million viewers. CNN’s top show was The Source with Kaitlan Collins, averaging 630,000.

The figures are from Nielsen via the networks. Status first reported on the October numbers.

In its ratings release, Fox News pointed to YouTube video views since the start of the year, at 3.8 billion through Oct. 27, compared to 2.96 billion for MS NOW and 2.36 billion for CNN. Those figures were ahead of the major broadcast networks. The figures are from Emplifi.

In October, 2022, the major news networks saw a slight total day audience boost preceding the midterms, although primetime viewership dropped.