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.

The statistic shows the share of consumers who watch Fox News in the United States as of April 2017, sorted by gender. During the survey, 56 percent of male respondents stated that they watched the cable news channel.

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.

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 **** million primetime viewers in that period. Fox News viewers in the 25-54 demographic amounted to *** thousand, whilst MSNBC had just *** 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 the final quarter of 2020, CNN averaged 412 thousand total day viewers aged between 25 and 54 years. The cable news network managed to attract a greater amount of viewers from this younger demographic compared to its competitors Fox News and MSNBC. Fox News was the leading network with almost 1.84 million total day viewers in Q4 2020.

The statistic shows the share of consumers who watch Fox News in the United States as of April 2017, sorted by political affiliation. During the survey, 50 percent of Democrat respondents stated that they watched the cable news channel.

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 *** 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 *******, higher ratings in 2024 can in large part be explained by the election cycle.

A survey held in the U.S. in spring 2023 found that 51 percent of white adults rarely or never watched Fox News, and the figure was similar for Black respondents. Hispanic Americans were the most engaged with the news channel, with over 40 percent watching Fox News at least weekly.

This statistic illustrates the share of Fox News TV viewers in the United States as of 2018. The results were sorted by age. In 2018, 42.63 percent of respondents aged 18 to 29 years stated they watch Fox News. The Statista Global Consumer Survey offers a global perspective on consumption and media usage, covering the offline und online world of the consumer.

During a survey held in the U.S. in spring 2023, 12 percent of respondents stated they watched Fox News every day. Meanwhile, over 30 percent said that they did not watch the channel at all, though Fox News remains the most watched cable news network in the United States.

The findings of a study conducted in January 2023 revealed that all three major U.S. cable networks had their biggest audiences in suburban areas, and Fox News had the highest share of viewers hailing from rural communities. Fox was also the least likely to attract urban audiences, with just 26 percent of its regular viewers living in larger metropolitan areas.

In the week running from March 9 to 15, 2020, Fox News averaged 3.54 million viewers in primetime, and CNN outperformed MSNBC with its primetime audience of 2.85 million. Comparing these figures to the corresponding week of the previous year, primetime viewership is noticeably higher among all three of the major cable news networks. Cable news network viewership varies monthly, though Fox News generally comes out on top, but the TV industry as a whole will be keeping a close eye on developments and ratings in spring 2020 in light of the coronavirus outbreak. The pandemic which is driving people indoors as they self-isolate, contrary to normal spring behaviour which tends to send viewers outdoors and away from their television sets.

Important to note here is that on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced that the coronavirus was a global pandemic, right in the middle of the week in March 2020 presented in the graph. In that week, Fox News averaged over one million more primetime viewers than in the corresponding period in 2019, and CNN's primetime audience was around three times higher.

The timeline shows the number of Fox News viewers in primetime in the United States from 2014 to 2016. In September 2016, the channel had 2.31 million viewers in the primetime slot, up from 1.76 million a year earlier.

"The Five" was the leading cable news program in 2023, averaging 2.89 million total viewers that year. "Jesse Watters Primetime" ranked second. All shows ranking in the top five in 2023 were broadcast by Fox.

The leading ad-supported cable network in the United States in 2024 ranked by number of viewers was FOX News, with about *** million viewers in the presented period. Ranking second and third respectively were ESPN and MSNBC, followed by TBS which averaged around ******* viewers.

A survey conducted in the United States in April 2023 found that 12 percent of respondents had a lot of trust in Fox News, whereas 23 percent said that they did not trust the news channel at all. Trust in news can vary according to the respondent's political leaning, age, educational background, and several other factors such as profession, ethnicity, and voting behavior.

The graph shows leading cable news hosts in the United States in 2016, sorted by average number of viewers. Bill O'Reilly's Fox News show, "The O'Reilly Factor", ranked first, averaging 3.29 million viewers in 2016.

In 2022, the average number of TVs tuned into CNN during the primetime news timeslot reached 0.83 million, down from 1.1 million in the previous year. MSNBC's average primetime viewership fared similarly, whereas Fox News outperformed both its competitors by a large margin with an average of 2.15 million televisions tuned in to its primetime slot.