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Posted on 10/29/2026 5:16:46 AM PDT by Red Badger
It still leads rivals MS NOW and CNN by wide margins, however.
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In the “two things can be true” category: Fox News still holds sizable ratings leads in cable news over CNN and MS NOW. It also suffered the largest year-to-year ratings drop in the month before an election in the past 10 years.
Nielsen ratings for October show Fox News averaging 1.68 million viewers in primetime and 1.01 million for the full day. Both are comfortably ahead of MS NOW (925,000 primetime, 588,000 full day) and CNN (598,000, 402,000). In the key news demographic of adults 25-54, things are a bit closer, but Fox’s totals of 145,000 in primetime and 98,000 for the total day still lead. CNN had 107,000 in the demo in primetime and 60,000 for the full day to 95,000 and 62,000 for MS NOW.
Fox also had the five most watched cable news shows, led by The Five at 2.7 million daily viewers.
Fox News is also touting its online strength, citing 3.8 billion YouTube views for 2026 so far (as measured by social media analytics firm Emplifi) to 2.96 billion for MS NOW and 2.36 billion for CNN.
As for the second true thing: In the past decade, none of the three biggest cable news outlets have suffered a decline in the month before a national election as big as Fox News did this year.
Compared to October 2025, Fox News slipped by 28 percent in primetime viewers and 27 percent for the full day. The networks’ adults 25-54 audience fell by more than 30 percent. MS NOW and CNN both had double digit percentage gains in primetime vs. a year earlier; MS NOW also did so for the full day, while CNN had a more modest 3 percent bump.
Pundits and media analysts have suggested that President Trump’s low approval ratings and an election cycle that seems to favor Democrats may have contributed to the drop at Fox News. Nielsen data doesn’t explain why people watch or don’t watch certain programs or networks, obviously. But the change is a stark one.
The Hollywood Reporter analyzed October cable news ratings for the past six national election cycles — presidential contests in 2016, 2020 and 2024 and midterms in 2018, 2022 and 2026 — and compared each to the previous October (2015, 2017, etc.). Unsurprisingly, all three networks showed huge year-to-year gains in October 2016 and October 2020. Fox improved substantially in October 2024 as well, with total day ratings up about 20 percent vs. October 2023. MS NOW was flat and CNN declined in October 2024 total day ratings (though both grew in primetime).
Midterm years are more of a mixed bag: Before this year, biggest improvement was a 25 percent year-to-year boost in primetime viewers for Fox in October 2018, and the steepest fall was a 20 percent drop in primetime adults 25-54 for MSNBC (MS NOW’s predecessor) in 2022.
October 2026 set new marks for the biggest swing in both directions. Fox News’ declines have no recent precedent in the month prior to an election. On the other end, CNN had 40 percent growth in its primetime adults 25-54 audience vs. a year ago, and both of MS NOW’s 25-54 averages grew (30 percent in primetime, 38 percent in total day).
Month-to-month numbers weren’t as drastic for any outlet, but Fox News was down a bit from September (off 2.5 percent in primetime and 1 percent all day) and MS NOW (up 10 percent in primtime, 8 percent all day) and CNN (up 11 percent in primetime, 8 percent for the full day) grew.
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Speaking of FNC...
Anyone require the left having a cow when Disney bought FOX’S entertainment assets?
I always thought the timing of that deal was interesting.
Not to mention the creation of Fox Corp, which included FNC.
Lefties had no prob.
Go figure.
A lot of words, but…Trump
Maybe they should consider that Fox is now the all el-sayed all the time network.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I stopped watching them when they stood with the msm over boycotting the President’s speech recently.
I stopped watching FOX when Brett Beyer called AZ for Biden.
I quit watching FOX about 4 years ago. Haven’t missed their controlled opposition BS for one minute.
No cable news for me anymore. Most news now is “happenings laced with spin and politics”.
Pundits and media analysts have suggested that President Trump’s low approval ratings and an election cycle that seems to favor Democrats may have contributed to the drop at Fox News.
No, it's TDS BS like the above that has caused the stampede.
“No, it’s TDS BS like the above that has caused the stampede.”
Hollywood reporter citing raw ratings then making a rookie error guessing at the reason, using their TDS as a basis
Hollywood Reporter pretends Fox is pro Trump and that Fox audience has soured on Trump suddenly, a month before the midterms
Fox is anti Trump. Brett Bauer, Martha Mc whazzername, Laura Ingraham are unwatchable since the 2020. You can’t look at them
Fox interviews El-Sayed, he’s on all the time. They won’t touch Trump’s rallies. That’s Fox, not the audience.
Right Side News on line carries Trump news. Maybe that’s where the audience went
Fake news!
I stopped watching Fox News years ago and cannot even stand their reliably conservative commentator shows. They also have their live streaming channel, Fox News Now, which has become an absolute showcase for Democrat candidates and spokespersons.
👍
Subtracting Maria and adding Jacqui is an epic fail.
Stopped regularly watching Fox News on election night 2016.
Ditto for me.
In fact I got rid of CABLE TV soon after.
Laura Ingraham was the other person that I thought stabbed all the conservatives in the back. More so than Bret and the Beotch in the Blue Dress on election night. Laura pretended to be a conservative. She got the big payday contract from FNC and showed her true colors. That she was a WHORE.
My main reason for getting rid of cable was because there was NOTHING except NFL that I was watching anymore.
Now, I subscribe to YouTube(without commercials). Paramount+ during NFL season, Amazon Prime and Netflix.
I stream everything. I cancel Paramount+ when the NFL is over.
I still occasionally watch clips of Gutfeld! and other FNC clips on YT.
Newsmax ratings are up dramatically.
It’s not just El-Sayed. It’s trans, A.I., Cheesecake Factory, and Netanyahu.
Jalf if all their stories right now are built on their phony polls. It’s all imaginary speculation.
Half*
I quit watching Fox news in 2016/17 when I decided I would never buy a “package” of channels and pay “carriage fees” to outlets like CNN & MSNBC and cut the cord. I tried OANN but they seem to be following the cable package route without the mojo to pull it off. Now I pay to subscribe to Newsmax (does that mean I’m newsmaxxing?) and it is the only news my wife and I I watch. It’s not perfect but it miles ahead of anything else out there.
People are leaving TV and/or reducing viewing hours, that’s what is happening. Get your product on smartphone or die.
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