During a survey held in the U.S. in spring 2023, it was found that adults aged above 45 years were the most likely to say they never watched Fox News, with more than double the share of those aged 45 to 64 years or 65 years or above saying they never tuned into the news channel than adults aged 18 to 29 years. Similarly, 20 percent of adults in the latter age bracket watched Fox News weekly, compared to only one percent of adults aged 65 or older.

As of April 2017, 57 percent of adults in the United States aged between 55 and 64 years old said that they watched Fox News, making viewers in this age category the cable news channel’s most avid audience. Conversely, younger generations were less likely to say that they watched Fox News.

Fox News’ demographic

In 2018, Fox News’ website was the highest rated online news brand in the United States based on index score, ranking above USA Today, ABC and the New York Times. However, Fox News’ audience is greatly affected by age and as such relies on its older audiences more so than younger viewers. As of August 2018, CNN was the most popular source for TV news among U.S. Millennials, whereas Fox was by far the most preferable among respondents aged 55 or above.

Fox News and trust

Trust in news has become a major topic in recent years, with consumers all over the world encountering fake news stories and even key figures labeling certain content as false in an attempt to smear news publications. A 2018 survey revealed that the majority of U.S. adults said that they believed Fox News was extremely biased, and another study showed that attitudes towards the trustworthiness of Fox News were mixed. Fox News’ credibility has been called into question in recent years, with viewers also scrutinizing Fox’s main competitors CNN and MSNBC as trust, transparency and accuracy become increasingly important to news consumers.

Cable TV news consumption is on the decline. Adults aged between 18 and 34 years old were the least likely to use cable TV networks as a source of news, with a survey held in the United States in August 2022 revealing that 45 percent never did so. Younger consumers preferred social media sites for keeping up to date, and whilst their older peers turned to cable news more frequently, network news was still a more popular daily news source.

Falling cable news ratings

Back in 2017, FOX News, the leading cable news network in the United States, had an average of almost 470 thousand viewers in the primetime demo. With the exception of 2020 where news consumption soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, ratings have fallen consecutively each year, and by 2022, FOX’s average viewer count sank to 341 thousand. CNN and MSNBC saw even greater drops in their audiences, with the latter seeing its ratings fall by more than 2.5 times between 2017 and 2022.

Why the drop in ratings?

Cable and satellite TV is no longer the norm: only adults aged 60 or above express a preference for traditional TV over video streaming services and apps, and among certain age groups the share who preferred the latter was over 70 percent. Indeed, a 2022 survey found that the majority of Gen Z, millennials, and Gen X did not have a cable subscription. The main reason for cutting the cord was price, with over a third of adults saying that cable was simply too expensive.

In 2024, the leading cable news network in the United States was Fox News. The network had an average of 294 thousand primetime viewers in the primetime demo (adults aged 25 to 54 years old) in that year, once again outperforming MSNBC and CNN by a significant margin. That said, 2023 marked the first time Fox News saw its ratings fall below 300,000, higher ratings in 2024 can in large part be explained by the election cycle.

What are the most-watched news networks? In November 2023, Fox News was the most watched cable news network in the United States and continues to do well in terms of its primetime audience, with 1.72 million primetime viewers in that period. Fox News viewers in the 25-54 demographic amounted to 199 thousand, whilst MSNBC had just 109 thousand. When looking at Fox News viewers compared to CNN, the overall average number of primetime viewers was notably different. CNN has been losing viewers in recent years, although during the coronavirus outbreak, tended to pull in a larger audience than usual. Which cable news channel has the most viewers in prime time? Performing well during the mid-evening prime time slot on cable television is the goal of any network that takes its ratings seriously.Cable news networks like Fox, CNN, and MSNBC are engaged in a monthly battle to hit the top spot during primetime and grab the highest cable news ratings during those precious evening hours. Fox News ratings during primetime are generally higher than its two direct competitors, and was the top channel for watching the State of the Union Address in 2020. What is prime time TV? Primetime television is the time at which the audience peaks, and in the United States usually takes place between 8pm and 11pm. TV networks show their most sought after or successful programs during this time, and this slot is where advertisers like to spend their money in order to maximize the number of viewers who will see their products. In fact, many of the most-watched news shows like Hannity or The Rachel Maddow Show which debate news coverage from a particular point of view, draw in massive audiences each month, ultimately contributing to the overall ratings of the network they belong to.

A survey held in the U.S. in spring 2023 found that 41 percent of Republicans watched Fox News every day or a few times per week, compared to only 21 percent of Democrats. More than a third of Democrats and Independents never engaged with Fox News, along with 19 percent of Republicans, highlighting the ongoing struggle cable networks face in keeping viewer numbers up.

In 2023, Fox had 994,000 average viewers, making it the leading ad-supported TV network in the United States among adults in the 18 to 49 demographic group. NBC ranked in second, with 931,000 average viewers, followed by ABC with nearly 800,000 average viewers.

Best performing TV networks in the U.S. among total viewers

The extent of NBC’s success in 2023 is even clearer when considering the vast difference between NBC and the networks ranking in third and fourth place among total viewers. Fox had 3.35 million, meaning that NBC had over one million more average viewers than one of its close competitors. Interestingly, although Fox ranked fourth among the leading ad supported U.S. networks, only three of Fox’s shows secured places in the top ten most watched shows of 2023. Top cable news networks in the U.S. TV shows aside, some of the highest performing cable networks are those which specialize in news. This is where Fox tends to excel, regularly pulling in over one million primetime viewers each month. Other cable news networks competing with Fox include MSNBC which tends to rank second, followed by CNN.

In 2023, NBC was the leading ad-supported television network in the United States, with an average viewership of 4.54 million, surpassing the viewership number of CBS. The latter recorded 4.51 people watchig the TV channel. Spotlight on CBS

CBS is among the oldest and most popular commercial broadcast television and radio networks in the United States. Founded in 1927, the company now operates as a subsidiary of Paramount, with all of its original programming available on the Paramount+ streaming platform. A closer look at the network's recent performance reveals that it ranked fourth among the leading television networks among U.S. adults in 2023. CBS reported an average of 676 thousand viewers between the ages of 18 to 49 that year and was only outperformed by NBC, Fox, and ABC. So what are audiences watching?

Popular television shows

According to the latest data, NFL Sunday Night Football was the most watched TV program in the United States during the 2022-2023 season. The sports broadcast, which aired on NBC, scored a respective 18.14 million viewers during that period. The three most popular fictional programs to make it into the top five were "Yellowstone", "NCIS," and "FBI" broadcast on Paramount Network and CBS.

The leading ad-supported cable network in the United States in 2023 ranked by number of viewers was FOX News, with about 1.9 million of viewers in the presented period. Ranking second and third respectively were ESPN and MSNBC, followed by Hallmark Channel which averaged around 800,000 viewers.

In December 2024, the news website with the most monthly visits in the United States was nytimes.com, with a total of 463.07 million monthly visits in that month. In second place was cnn.com with close to 357 million visits, followed by foxnews.com with just over a quater of a million. Online news consumption in the U.S. Americans get their news in a variety of ways, but social media is an increasingly popular option. A survey on social media news consumption revealed that 55 percent of Twitter users regularly used the site for news, and Facebook and Reddit were also popular for news among their users. Interestingly though, social media is the least trusted news sources in the United States. News and trust Trust in news sources has become increasingly important to the American news consumer amidst the spread of fake news, and the public are more vocal about whether or not they have faith in a source to report news correctly. Ongoing discussions about the credibility, accuracy and bias of news networks, anchors, TV show hosts, and news media professionals mean that those looking to keep up to date tend to be more cautious than ever before. In general, news audiences are skeptical. In 2020, just nine percent of respondents to a survey investigating the perceived objectivity of the mass media reported having a great deal of trust in the media to report news fully, accurately, and fairly.