Fox News

‘Special Report’ Beats ‘CBS Evening News’ Twice Last Week and Continues to Close the Gap After Topping All Broadcast Networks on Astronaut Splashdown

‘The Five’ Surpasses Four Million Viewers for 18^th Consecutive Week

• During the week of March 17-23, FOX News Channel’s (FNC) The Five marked the 18th consecutive week commanding more than four million viewers. In total day (6 AM-6 AM/ET), FNC posted 1.8 million viewers and 221,000 in the 25-54 demo. In primetime (8 PM-11 PM/ET, FNC averaged 2.9 million viewers and 345,000 in the 25-54 demo. Additionally, FNC outpaced TBS (1.6 million primetime viewers, 585,000 total day viewers) and TNT (1.5 million primetime viewers and 499,000 total day viewers) with primetime and total day viewers for the week despite their airings of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. FOX News has now garnered the top 861 cable news telecasts since the election.

• Special Report with Bret Baier dominated the broadcast networks on Tuesday during coverage of the astronauts’ return to earth with 5.3 million viewers during the 6 PM/ET hour. The broadcast networks, which broke in for special coverage beginning at 5:50 PM/ET, saw CBS and ABC lag behind with 1.8 million viewers, while NBC finished last with 1.1 million viewers. Head-to-head, Special Report garnered 5.6 million viewers from 6:30-7 PM/ET leading CBS Evening News which averaged 3.9 million viewers. Additionally, Special Report beat CBS Evening News on Friday night securing 2,796,000 viewers from 6:30-7PM to their 2,733,000 viewers.
• For the week, The Five averaged 4 million viewers and 425,000 in the 25-54 demo, leading cable news with total viewers. At 6 PM/ET, Special Report with Bret Baier drew 3.5 million viewers and 377,000 in the 25-54 demo. The Ingraham Angle saw 3.4 million viewers and 377,000 in the 25-54 demo at 7 PM/ET. At 8 PM/ET, Jesse Watters Primetime delivered 3.8 million viewers and 455,000 in the 25-54 demo, which led cable news with younger viewers. At 9 PM/ET, Hannity posted 3.3 million viewers and 426,000 with A25-54. At 11 PM/ET, FOX News @ Night secured 1.7 million viewers and 239,000 in the 25-54 demo.

• At 10 PM/ET, FNC’s late-night offering Gutfeld! secured 3.2 million viewers and 421,000 with A25-54. Gutfeld! once again topped the broadcast competition including ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! (1,578,000 P2+; 223,000 A25-54) and NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (1,147,000 P2+; 280,000 A25-54).

• FNC continued to see a number of its daytime programs outpace the broadcast competition. Outnumbered (weekdays, 12 PM/ET; 2,247,000 viewers), Harris Faulkner’s The Faulkner Focus (weekdays, 11 AM/ET; 2,187,000 viewers), The Will Cain Show (weekdays, 4 PM/ET; 2,160,000 viewers), America’s Newsroom (weekdays, 9-11 AM/ET; 2,121,000 viewers) and America Reports (weekdays, 1-3 PM/ET; 2,034,000 viewers) all led CBS Mornings (2,007,000 viewers), NBC’s Today Third Hour (1,859,000 viewers), ABC’s GMA3 (1,364,000 viewers), NBC’s Today with Jenna & Friends (1,229,00 viewers) and NBC News Daily (1,083,000 viewers) with viewers.

• On Saturday, FOX News Live (Saturday, 10 AM – 2 PM/ET) was the most-watched show of the day with 1.6 million viewers and 181,000 in the 25-54 demo. The Big Weekend Show (weekends, 6-8 PM/ET) followed with 1.5 million viewers and 178,000 in the 25-54 demo. In primetime, Life, Liberty & Levin (weekends, 8 PM/ET) took 1.5 million viewers. At 9 PM/ET, My View with Lara Trump posted 1.5 million viewers and 143,000 in the 25-54 demo.

• On Sunday, Maria Bartiromo’s Sunday Morning Futures was the top show of the weekend with 2.1 million viewers and 249,000 in the 25-54 demo. Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy (Sunday, 9 PM/ET) was the number one show in primetime with 1.8 million viewers and 179,000 in the 25-54 demo. At 10 PM/ET, One Nation with Brian Kilmeade commanded 1.5 million viewers and 183,000 in the 25-54 demo.

Source: Nielsen. Live+SD. Week of 3-17-25 ratings data. Average audience for cable news networks Monday-Sunday based on Total Day and Prime (6a-6a, 8P-11P), P2+, P25-54, P18-49. Cable News/Broadcast Program averages exclude repeats and include the corresponding program name.

FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service and has been the number one network in basic cable for the last eight years and the most-watched television news channel for 23 consecutive years, currently attracting nearly 50% of the cable news viewing audience according to Nielsen Media Research. Notably, Nielsen/MRI Fusion has consistently shown FNC to be the network of choice for more Democrat and Independent viewers, with the most politically diverse audience in cable news. A 2024 Pew Research Center study found that more Americans named FNC as their main source for political news than any other network while a 2023 New York Times/Siena College poll found FNC as the leading single source of news for voters across the country. Owned by Fox Corporation, FNC is available in nearly 70 million homes and dominates the cable news landscape, routinely notching the top 10 programs in the genre.

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