Fox News Channel has best February in network history

Fox News Channel has started 2025 off with a bang, averaging the largest audience in the first two months of a year in cable news history, while CNN and MSNBC continue to struggle. 

Fox News averaged nearly two million total day viewers to crush all cable competitors, as no other networks surpassed the one-million benchmark and No. 2 MSNBC averaged only 638,000. CNN settled for an average total day viewership of 433,000 as Fox News topped MSNBC and CNN combined.

It was the network’s most-watched month of February of all time as Fox News finished with its third-highest share of the cable news audience since launching in 1996. 

FOX NEWS DIGITAL CRUSHES ALL NEWS BRANDS DURING JANUARY, FINISHES WITH THIRD BEST MONTH EVER IN KEY METRIC

During the primetime hours of 8-11 p.m. ET, Fox News also flattened all other cable offerings. “Jesse Watters Primetime,” “Hannity” and Gutfeld!” averaged 3.1 million total viewers, while No. 2 ESPN settled for 1.4 million. MSNBC averaged 1.1 million and CNN managed only 553,000 as the liberal networks failed to outdraw Fox News’ viewership even when combined in that category, too. 

After a dominant month of February, the top 838 cable news telecasts since Election Day have all aired on Fox News. Sean Hannity’s exclusive interview with Elon Musk and President Trump on February 18 averaged 5.4 million viewers, the second highest-rated cable telecast of the month.

“The Five,” with Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters, Dana Perino, Jeanine Pirro and rotating co-hosts Jessica Tarlov and Harold Ford Jr., averaged a whopping 4.7 million viewers to finish as the No. 1 program in all cable news. February was the 14th consecutive month that “The Five” averaged more than 4 million viewers.

“The Ingraham Angle” averaged 3.5 million viewers as Laura Ingraham continued her reign as the highest-rated woman in cable news, “Jesse Watters Primetime” averaged 4.2 million total viewers, “Hannity” averaged 3.6 million and “Gutfeld!” finished with 3.4 million viewers for its best month ever as all four programs dominated their timeslots. 

OVER 10 MILLION VIEWERS WATCHED FOX NEWS’ INAUGURATION COVERAGE, CRUSHING ALL OTHER NETWORKS

“Special Report with Bret Baier” averaged 3.6 million viewers for its third-best month ever and newly launched “The Will Cain Show” grew the 4 p.m. hour by 81% compared to last year. 

“America Reports” with John Roberts and Sandra Smith, “The Story” with Martha MacCallum and FOX News @ Night all had their best months since 2020. 

“FOX & Friends FIRST,” “FOX & Friends,” “America’s Newsroom” with Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino, “The Faulkner Focus” and “Outnumbered” all also had dominant months to help keep Fox News in the top spot. With another victory, “FOX & Friends” has been the No. 1 cable news program in the mornings for more than three straight years. 

Fox News averaged 252,000 total day viewers from the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults age 25-54 to finish No. 1 among all of cable in the critical category. ESPN, TNT, TBS and USA rounded out the top five with both CNN and MSNBC on the outside looking in. 

CNN averaged 82,000 viewers from the key demo while MSNBC attracted only 66,000 average total day demo viewers. 

MSNBC’S PRIMETIME LINEUP HAS WORST JANUARY EVER AMONG DEMOGRAPHIC COVETED BY ADVERTISERS

It was much of the same from 8-11 p.m. ET, as Fox News averaged 387,000 demo viewers during primetime compared to 122,000 for CNN and only 111,000 for MSNBC. 

“Jesse Watters Primetime” finished No. 1 among the demo in cable news, averaging 518,000 of the viewers most coveted by advertisers. 

During weekends, Fox News beat CNN and MSNBC during every hour among both total viewers and the demo as “The Big Weekend Show” finished as the most-watched cable news offering on Saturdays throughout February and “Sunday Morning Futures” took the Sunday crown. 

The debut of “My View with Lara Trump” drew a record 2.4 million viewers to finish as the most-watched program of the weekend in all of cable. It also beat everything CNN and MSNBC had to offer for the entire week. 

Fox News finished with 65% of the cable news share among viewers in both total day and primetime, while CNN and MSNBC were both down throughout total day and primetime viewers along with the demo.

Once again, more Democrats, Independents and Republicans continued to watch Fox News over any other cable network across total day, according to data from Nielsen MRI Fusion. While Fox News has dominated cable news, it has also outdrawn a variety of free-TV options by averaging 3.9 million weeknight viewers in primetime since January to beat ABC, CBS, NBC. Fox News’ “The Five” even outdrew “CBS Evening News.”

February marked Fox News’ fifth highest-rated month ever, trailing only April 2003, October 2020, April 2020 and March 2020.

Ratings data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.