Americans turned to Fox News Channel for information and analysis in droves during the historical news cycle of the third quarter of 2024.
The third quarter of 2024 saw President Biden end his re-election bid, Vice President Kamala Harris emerged as the Democratic nominee, the selection of Sen. JD Vance and Gov. Yim Walz as their party’s running mates, both the Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention and a pair of assassination attempts against former President Trump.
Along the way, Fox News had its second highest-rated third quarter in history, topped broadcast networks ABC and CBS, along with all of cable, among total viewers.
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Fox News averaged 1.6 million total day viewers to finish the third quarter as the only basic cable option to reach the one-million viewer plateau. MSNBC averaged 889,000 to finish second, followed by CNN, ESPN and USA. It was the 14th straight quarter that Fox News has finished with the largest total day audience in all of cable.
Fox News averaged 2.7 million viewers between 8-11 p.m., also finishing as the No. 1 cable network by a wide margin. MSNBC finished second with an average primetime audience of 1.5 million viewers, followed by ESPN with 1.2 million average viewers. CNN failed to crack the one-million viewer benchmark and finished fourth with an average primetime audience of 924,000.
Fox News has been the most-watched cable news station for a staggering 91-consecutive quarters, dating back to the first quarter of 2002. FNC also had the most growth in cable news versus the third quarter of 2023 and retained the largest share of the cable news audience with 52% of viewers in total day and 53% in primetime.
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When it comes to the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults age 24-54, Fox News topped all cable channels with 215,000 average total day viewers. ESPN averaged 213,000 to finish second in the critical category, followed by USA, CNN and MSNBC.
Only NFL-heavy ESPN topped Fox News from 8-11 p.m. in the key demo, as FNC averaged 367,000 primetime demo viewers to finish as the No. 1 cable news channel in the category sought by advertisers.
"The Five" became the first non-primetime program in cable news history to finish as the most-watched show for 12 consecutive quarters as Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters, Dana Perino, Jeanine Pirro and rotating co-hosts Jessica Tarlov and Harold Ford Jr. averaged 3.5 million total viewers to remain on top.
"Jesse Watters Primetime, "Hannity," Gutfeld!," "The Ingraham Angle" and "Special Report with Bret Baier" all had spectacular months to join "The Five" among the six most-watched programs. In fact, Fox News was home to the 12 most watched shows in all of cable news.
"Hannity" dominated the 9 p.m. ET hour, finishing as the No. 1 cable news program among the key demo.
"Gutfeld! continued its record-breaking year with its highest-rated quarter in program history, averaging 2.8 million total viewers and 413,000 in the key demo to beat all broadcast and late-night television, including CBS’ "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," ABC’s "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," NBC’s "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon," "Late Night with Seth Meyers," CBS’ "After Midnight" and Comedy Central’s "The Daily Show."
"Gutfeld!" landed its largest audience in the program’s history in September when former President Trump made a guest appearance.
"FOX & Friends," "America’s Newsroom" with Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer, "The Faulkner Focus," "Outnumbered," "America Reports" with John Roberts and Sandra Smith, "The Story with Martha MacCallum," and "Your World with Neil Cavuto" all had strong quarters to help Fox News crush the competition.
Fox News also made history as it delivered the highest-rated primetime convention coverage of all time during the RNC with 10.4 million viewers and 2 million in the demo.
Fox News closed the quarter strong and was the highest-rated network in all of cable news among both total day and primetime during the month of September, marking 43-straight months on top.
FOX News Media’s simulcast of ABC’s presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Trump brought in 14.2 million viewers.
All data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.
