Fox News Channel crushes all of basic cable in April, ‘The Five’ finishes as No. 1 show

Fox News Channel finished April as the most-watched basic cable network among both total day and primetime viewers as Americans sought news and analysis on topics including Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, all-thing-politics and Elon Musk’s pursuit of buying Twitter. 

Fox News averaged 1.5 million total viewers to finish as the only network to surpass the one-million viewer benchmark, as No. 2 MSNBC averaged only 668,000 viewers. It was the 14th straight month that Fox News finished No. 1 among total day viewers. 

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During the primetime hours of 8-11 p.m., Fox News averaged 2.4 million viewers compared to 1.7 million for NBA Playoffs-heavy TNT. 

Fox News beat all relevant cable news networks combined across the board, and its advantage over MSNBC was particularly strong among the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults age 25-54. Fox News averaged 248,000 demo viewers compared to a dismal 75,000 for MSNBC. During primetime, Fox News averaged 364,000 viewers from the coveted category and MSNBC managed only 124,000. 

MSNBC’s primetime performance among the demo was eclipsed by 25 different basic cable options, including Syfy, FXX, TV Land, Adult Swim, Comedy Central and Bravo. 

"The Five" finished April as the most-watched show on cable news, averaging 3.5 million viewers as Fox News programs swept the top 12. The roundtable program has now topped cable news in four of the past five months despite airing before the primetime hours that traditionally dominate viewership.

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"Tucker Carlson Tonight" averaged 3.4 million to finish second, followed by "Jesse Watters Primetime," "Hannity," Special Report with Bret Baier," "The Ingraham Angle," Gutfeld!," "Outnumbered," "America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino," "The Faulkner Focus," "Your World with Neil Cavuto" and "The Story with Martha MacCallum." As a result, Fox News was responsible for 66 of the top 100 cable telecasts of the month. 

Sean Hannity, who has been with the network since it launched in 1996, became the longest-running cable news host in primetime this month, breaking a longstanding record previously held by famed talk show host Larry King.

Laura Ingraham finished as the most-watched, solo female cable news host and "Gutfeld!" outdrew ABC’s "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and NBC’s "The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon." Greg Gutfeld’s late-night program also topped CBS" "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" multiple times during April. 

The most-watched cable news program that doesn’t air on Fox News was MSNBC"s "The Rachel Maddow Show, which finished No. 13. However, namesake host Rachel Maddow will only work on Mondays starting next month as she scales back her TV workload to focus on other projects, despite earning a reported $30 million per year. 

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"Tucker Carlson Tonight" averaged 560,000 viewersr to finish as the most-watched cable news program among the key demo, while Maddow’s decision to cut her show appearances to one day a week comes after her lowest-rated month in the demo since November 2015.

"FOX & Friends" averaged 1.4 million viewers and 253,000 among the demo to finish as the No. 1 cable news morning show for the 13th straight month in both categories. "CAVUTO Live" averaged 1.5 million viewers to finish as the most-watched Saturday program, while "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo" averaged 1.9 million to finish No. 1 on Sundays. 

All data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.