NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 16: Hosts Jessica Tarlov, Jesse Watters, Dana Perino and Greg Gutfeld with Vice President of the United States JD Vance discusses new his book “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith” as he visits “The Five” at Fox News Channel Studios on June 16, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
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Fox News Channel’s The Five cruised to another ratings victory in September, leading all other cable news shows for the month and the third quarter–marking a staggering 20 consecutive quarters as the most-watched show in cable news.
In the third quarter, The Five drew an average total audience of 3.146 million viewers, followed by Jesse Watters Primetime (2.758 million viewers), Gutfeld! (2.451 million viewers), Special Report with Bret Baier (2.330 million viewers) and Hannity (2.307 million viewers)–all airing on Fox News.
Among viewers 25-54, the key demographic valued by advertisers, The Five was first with 289,000 viewers, followed by Jesse Watters Primetime (244,000 viewers), Gutfeld! (243,000 viewers), Hannity (219,000 viewers), and Special Report with Bret Baier (194,000 viewers).
Ratings growth at MS NOW
While Fox News swept the top five most-watched shows for the quarter, MS NOW had encouraging results, including a 16 percent jump among total viewers in weekday prime time, and an increase of 28 percent in the key demo compared to 3Q 2025. For weekday live programming, the network averaged 800,000 total viewers (up 21 percent year-over-year) and 75,000 viewers in the demo (up 36 percent).
The 11th Hour with Ali Velshi saw double-digit growth in the key demo from one year ago, with the late night show re-launching this year with Velshi as the new host.
Rival network NewsNation also posted year-over-year growth, climbing 12 percent in prime among total viewers and 8 percent in the key demo, pushing the youngest of the cable news networks to its third strongest quarter ever in total day viewership.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JULY 15: Host Bret Baier speaks as Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon visits “Special Report With Bret Baier” at Fox News Channel Studios on July 15, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
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Fox News sweeps September’s top-rated shows
The results for September mirrored the third quarter, with The Five finishing on top with an average total audience of 2.794 million viewers, followed by Jesse Watters Primetime (2.408 million viewers), Gutfeld! (2.123 million viewers), Hannity (2.056 million viewers), and Special Report with Bret Baier (2.040 million viewers)–again, a sweep for FNC.
In the key demo, it was The Five (273,000 viewers), followed by Gutfeld! (214,000 viewers), Jesse Watters Primetime (212,000 viewers), Hannity (204,000 viewers), and MS NOW’s The Rachel Maddow Show wrapping up the top five with an average audience of 186,000 viewers.
Special Report with Bret Baier continued to show its ratings strength compared to the traditional network evening newscasts, beating the CBS Evening News in 11 major markets including Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Orlando and Detroit as the CBS broadcast continued to struggle. With the network’s morning show, CBS Mornings, delivering its lowest-rated quarter ever, CBS marked its worst quarterly ratings performance among total viewers since 1994.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 16: Host Jesse Watters as Vice President of the United States JD Vance discusses new his book “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith” as he visits “The Five” at Fox News Channel Studios on June 16, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images)
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Fox doubles up on MS NOW and triples CNN in prime time
The Fox News prime time lineup easily outdistanced the cable news competition in the third quarter, drawing an average total prime time audience of 2.061 million viewers, more than double that of MS NOW (930,000 viewers) and triple that of CNN (607,000 viewers).
The ratings race was somewhat closer in the key demo, with Fox leading in 3Q with 183,000 viewers, followed by CNN (101,000 viewers) and MS NOW (84,000 viewers).
In September, Fox led in prime with 1.717 million viewers, followed by MS NOW (839,000 viewers), and CNN (539,000 viewers). In the key demo for the month, FNC was first with 156,000 viewers, followed by CNN (90,000 viewers) and MS NOW (79,000 viewers).
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