Fox News Channel overtook NBC and ABC in viewership in the second quarter of 2025, while maintaining a strong lead over its cable news competition, according to Fox News, citing data from the Nielsen Company.
Nielsen’s second quarter report showed that Fox News had 3 million prime-time viewers and 350,000 in the 25-54 age demographic, compared to the 2.9 million viewers of ABC and the 2,704,000 viewers of NBC. (Prime time is considered between 8-11 p.m.)
Fox News also did well during the day, with its second-highest ratings quarter in the network’s history in the weekday total day viewership, with an average of 1.8 million viewers and 223,000 in the 25-54 age demographic.
The report showed Fox News’ continued dominance over its cable news competition, earning 62% of the audience share in total day and 63% in primetime.
Breaking news stories also gave Fox News a boost. During the week of the U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear sites amid the Iran-Israel conflict, Fox News had 3.3 million viewers in prime time, surpassing NBC with 2.4 million viewers, CBS with 2.1 million viewers, and ABC with 1.9 million viewers.
Overall, during prime time in the second quarter, Fox News drew a total of 2.8 million viewers, up 25% over 2024, compared to CNN with 642,000 viewers and MSNBC with 955,000 viewers.
Fox News had a strong June. According to Nielsen, the network averaged 3.1 million viewers and 370,000 in the 25-54 age demographic in primetime, again topping CBS with 2.1 million viewers, and NBC with 2.4 million in total viewership. Fox News boasted its second highest-rated June ever with total viewers and 25-54 demo behind only June 2020, during heightened coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The cable network also outpaced CNN and MSNBC viewership over the weekend, with “The Big Weekend Show” delivering 1.5 million and 164,000 in the 25-54 age demographic, and “FOX News Live” with 172,000 in the 25-54 age demographic and 1.4 million viewers.
Overall, Fox News in June earned a total day average of 1.7 million viewers in June, compared to CNN with 446,000 total viewers and MSNBC with 593,000 viewers.
As for particular shows, Fox News has 14 of the top 15 cable news programs.
“The Five,”remains the most watched non-prime-time program for a record 15th consecutive quarter, averaging nearly 4 million viewers and 410,000 in the 25-54 age demographic. The program overall even surpassed “CBS Evening News,” NBC’s Tom Hanks-hosted “Americas,” and the NBA playoffs on ESPN.
In prime time “Hannity” continued to dominate its competition, getting 2.9 million viewers and 342,000 in the 25-54 age demographic. During June, Sean Hannity was the highest-rated host in the 25-54 age demographic with 434,000 younger viewers.
Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld is undisputed “King of Late Night.” According to Nielsen, “Gutfeld!” beats NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.”
