Fox News Channel finished the third quarter of 2022 as cable’s most-watched network among both total and primetime viewers as Americans tuned in for information and analysis during a busy news cycle that featured everything from ongoing economic woes to the FBI raid of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.
The busy quarter also included continued coverage of the war in Ukraine, the death of Queen Elizabeth and around-the-clock political news. Fox News averaged 1.4 million total day viewers during the quarter, crushing No. 2 MSNBC’s average viewership of 783,000 as CNN, ESPN and HGTV also landed in the top five. It was the sixth straight quarter that Fox News finished No. 1 in the category, airing 94 of the top 100 telecasts in cable news along the way.
During the primetime hours of 8-11 p.m., Fox News dominated with 2.2 million average viewers to outdraw MSNBC and CNN combined. MSNBC averaged 1.3 million, followed by ESPN, HGTV and Hallmark. CNN settled for a primetime average of only 717,000 and failed to crack the top five as Fox News was the highest-rated cable news network during primetime for the 83rd straight quarter.
"The Five" averaged 3.3 million viewers to finish as the most-watched cable news program as Fox News offerings swept the top seven. It was the first time in history that a non-primetime cable news program has topped the category for four consecutive quarters.
"Tucker Carlson Tonight" averaged 3.2 million viewers to finish second, followed by "Jesse Watters Primetime," "Hannity," "Special Report with Bret Baier," "The Ingraham Angle" and "Gutfeld!"
MSNBC’s 9 p.m. hour was the most-watched, non-Fox News program with an average audience of 1.9 million viewers despite Rachel Maddow and Alex Wagner sharing the role, as "The Rachel Maddow Show" only airs on Mondays because the namesake host wanted to scale back her workload.
CNN’s most-popular program was "Anderson Cooper 360," which failed to crack the one-million viewer benchmark and finished No. 24 among cable news options. Despite being CNN’s most-watched show, "AC 360" was outdrawn by 15 Fox News and eight MSNBC offerings.
"FOX & Friends" averaged 1.3 million viewers to outdraw MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" and CNN’s soon-to-be-replaced "New Day" combined.
"Unfiltered with Dan Bongino" averaged 1.3 million viewers to finish as the most-watched cable news program on Saturday, while "Life, Liberty & Levin" averaged 1.8 million viewers for the Sunday title.
Fox News was even more dominant among the advertiser-coveted demo of adults age 25-54, sweeping the top 15 cable news programs.
Fox News averaged 201,000 total day viewers among the demo compared to 110,000 for CNN and a dismal 85,000 for MSNBC. During primetime, Fox News averaged 294,000 while CNN managed only 150,000 and MSNBC settled for 127,000.
BENJAMIN HALL SURPRISES FOX NEWS COLLEAGUES WITH MOVING WORDS SIX MONTHS AFTER DEADLY UKRAINE ATTACK
"Tucker" averaged 468,000 viewers to win the critical category while "The Five," "Hannity," "Watters," Gutfeld!," "The Ingraham Angle," "Special Report with Bret Baier," "Outnumbered," "America’s Newsroom with Bill hemmer and Dana Perino," ""The Faulkner Focus," Martha MacCallum’s "The Story," "America Reports with John Roberts and Sandra Smith," "FOX & Friends," "Your World with Neil Cavuto" and "FOX News @ Night" all outdrew everything CNN and MSNBC had to offer.
All ratings data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.
