Fox News Tops August Ratings As Most Watched Cable Network

Fox News topped other cable networks in August, beating its cable news rivals as well other cable networks.

Audiences again were down across the board versus last year. The drop was somewhat expected, given last year’s presidential elections and, in August, the political conventions.

In primetime, Fox News drew 2.47 million viewers, down 32% from the same month a year earlier, followed by MSNBC with 1.23 million, down 44%, and CNN with 819,000, down 51%. In the 25-54 demo, Fox News averaged 394,000 viewers, down 38%, compared to CNN with 191,000, down 58%, and MSNBC with 163,000, down 55%.

In total day, Fox News averaged 1.42 million, down 20%, compared to MSNBC with 732,000, down 41%, and CNN with 621,000, down 39%. In the 25-54 demo, Fox News averaged 238,000, down 24%, compared to CNN with 136,000, off by 47%, and MSNBC with 96,000, down 51%.

Related Story

Fox News also landed the top five cable news shows, led by Tucker Carlson Tonight with 3.3 million, followed by The Five with 3.11 million, Hannity with 3 million, The Ingraham Angle at 2.39 million and Special Report with Bret Baier at 2.19 million. In the 25-54 demo, Tucker Carlson Tonight topped with 551,000, followed by Hannity with 503,000, The Five with 460,000, The Ingraham Angle at 410,000 and Special Report with Bret Baier at 349,000. The Rachel Maddow Show fell out of the top five for the month, in which the host was on vacation for part of the time frame.

Other highlights: Fox News’ Gutfeld!, which launched in April, again won the 11 PM hour, averaging 1.7 million viewers and 312,000 in the 25-54 demo. The network noted that Gutfeld! beat The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in total viewers and the demo for one week in the month. The Fox News show, however, doesn’t go head-to-head with The Late Show across the country: Gutfeld! starts at 11 PM ET, a half hour before The Late Show, and airs at 8 PM PT on the west coast.

Among special series, CNN’s History of the Sitcom, airing on Sundays, won its time period on total viewers over cable news rivals in total viewers and the key demo. It averaged 1.42 million viewers and 317,000 among viewers 25-54.