Hannity Reigns at 9 P.M. Despite New Competition As Fox News Remains Dominant in 3rd Quarter Ratings

Fox News yet again dominated the cable news ratings in the third quarter of 2022. The right-leaning network remained the most-watched network on all of cable for the quarter both in terms of total viewers and in the key 25-54 age demographic favored by advertisers.

Fox so overwhelmed the competition it not only scored nine of the top 10 shows in cable news, it landed 94 of the top 100 telecasts for the quarter.

While Fox’s reign atop the charts shows no signs of ending anytime soon, MSNBC’s grip on second place also appears to be under no real threat from CNN. Fox News led in prime time with some 2.189 million total viewers, while MSNBC landed in second place with 1.277 million total viewers. CNN, which recently announced a reshuffling of its prime time lineup, brought in only 717,000 total viewers.

The big story of the quarter was the mid-August debut of Alex Wagner Tonight, which replaced MSNBC Prime Tuesday through Friday as Rachel Maddow has gone down to hosting only one show a week on Mondays.

Together Maddow and Wagner gave MSNBC the 8th most-watched hour on cable news. Maddow brought in a very solid 2.5 million total aver viewers on Monday nights, while Wagner averaged 1.6 million total viewers for the quarter.

Wagner’s numbers are a mixed result as she raised the hour some 36 percent compared to MSNBC Prime, which did not have a regular host. However, Wagner’s audience is some 39 percent less in terms of total viewers than Maddow’s 2.6 million average viewers in 2021, with a drop of 60 percent in the demo.

Wagner’s Fox News competition, Sean Hannity, landed in third place overall in the demo with 358,000 viewers, significantly outpacing Wagner’s 148,000 demo average.

Hannity landed in fourth place overall with 2.68 million total viewers. Fox News’s The Five topped the charts for the quarter, continuing its historic streak as the first non-prime time show to finish first in four consecutive quarters.

Tucker Carlson, who topped the demo for the quarter, came in second place overall, while Jesse Watters landed in third place.

Fox News’s Bret Baier rounded out the top five, just beating out Laura Ingraham – who continues to be the most-watched female host on all of cable. Greg Gutfeld, who had his best quarter since his launch last year, landed in seventh.

The only other non-Fox host to make the top 15 was MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell who landed at 12th place overall, beating Nicolle Wallace, Ari Melber, and Chris Hayes who came in at 16th, 17th, and 18th respectively.

Anderson Cooper was the only CNN host to crack the top 25, landing at 24th place overall with 872,000 average viewers for the quarter.

Here are the total day averages in total viewers and the 25-54 category for the third quarter of 2022.

Total viewers:

CNN: 558,000

Fox 1.41 million

MSNBC: 783,000

25-54 Demo:

CNN: 110,000

Fox News: 201,000

MSNBC: 85,000

Here are the prime time averages — encompassing shows which air from 8-11 p.m. — for the third quarter of 2022.

Total viewers:

CNN: 717,000

Fox News: 2.20 million

MSNBC: 1.30 million

25-54 Demo:

CNN: 150,000

Fox News: 294,000

MSNBC: 127,000

 

Here are the total day averages in total viewers and the 25-54 category during the month of September.

Total viewers:

CNN: 580,000

Fox 1.41 million

MSNBC: 791,000

25-54 Demo:

CNN: 111,000

Fox News: 201,000

MSNBC: 82,000

Here are the prime time averages — encompassing shows which air from 8-11 p.m. —during the month of September.

Total viewers:

CNN: 682,000

Fox News: 2.13 million

MSNBC: 1.23 million

25-54 Demo:

CNN: 136,000

Fox News: 280,000

MSNBC: 114,000