Fox News dominates MSNBC, CNN during April as ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ is most-watched cable news show

Fox News Channel dominated the cable landscape during the month of April, finishing as the most-watched network in multiple categories, including primetime and total day viewers.

Fox News averaged 2.2 million primetime viewers in April to finish as the No. 1 network among all of basic cable from 8-11 p.m. ET. MSNBC averaged 1.6 million to finish second, as HGTV averaged 1.2 million to finish third.

Fox News also finished as the most-watched network among total viewers, averaging 1.2 million while no other basic cable channels cracked the one-million viewer plateau. MSNBC averaged 953,000 total day viewers while CNN settled for only 786,000.

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"Tucker Carlson Tonight" was the most-watched program on cable news, averaging 3.02 million viewers per episode. "The Five" averaged 2.7 million viewers to finish second despite airing at 5 p.m. ET, as the popular ensemble show topped all primetime programing on both CNN and MSNBC.  

"Hannity," MSNBC’s "The Rachel Maddow Show" and "The Ingraham Angle" joined "Tucker and "The Five" among the top five programs, while no CNN shows managed to crack the top 15. The most popular show on CNN was "The Lead with Jake Tapper," which finished No. 17 behind nine Fox News shows and seven MSNBC offerings.

It was a rough month for CNN’s left-winng primetime lineup, as "Anderson Cooper 360" and scandal-plagued "Cuomo Prime Time" finished outside the top 17. Don Lemon’s show didn’t even average one million nightly viewers.

"CNN Tonight" with Lemon averaged only 895,000 viewers to finish outside the top 35 most-watched shows, well behind a variety of daytime and morning programs despite being part of CNN’s primetime lineup.

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"Tucker" also finished as the most-watched program among the key advertiser demographic of adults age 25-54, averaging 523,000 viewers. "Hannity," "The Five," Maddow" and "Ingraham" rounded out the top five in the crucial category.

Fox News topped both MSNBC and CNN in the key demo during primetime and among total day viewers. With the April victories, Fox News has swept MSNBC and CNN for two straight months.

"Gutfeld!" debuted with a bang, as Greg Gutfeld’s new weeknight show at 11 p.m. ET averaged 1.8 million total viewers to beat every CNN program. It also outdrew broadcast competition such as ABC’s "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and NBC’s "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" in Nielsen’s Live+3 measurement. 

"Special Report" with anchor Bret Baier was No. 1 in the 6 p.m. ET timeslot among total viewers for the month of April, piling up 1.8 million viewers, while "America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino" finished atop the 9-11 a.m. ET timeslot.

"Fox & Friends" beat CNN’s "New Day" and MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" in both total viewers and the key demo.

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While Fox News’ weekday lineup has proven dominant, the network also swept MSNBC and CNN on weekends with strong performances from "Watters’ World," "Justice with Judge Jeanine" "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo," and "Cavuto Live."

"MediaBuzz" with Howard Kurtz beat CNN’s "Reliable Sources" with Brian Stelter in both total viewers and the demo for the month of April, as the liberal CNN program had its worst month of 2021.

Stelter’s struggling program didn’t even surpass one million viewers during any specific episode and has lost nearly half its viewership in both total viewers and in the demo since January as CNN’s media team struggles for an identity under the Biden administration.

All data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.