Fox News More Than Doubles MSNBC In Prime Time, Dominates Trump’s First 100 Days

Fox News surged past its cable news competitors yet again in the month of April as its weekday prime time programming notched some additional wins over broadcast networks.

Fox scored 1.6 million average total day viewers, including weekends, for the month and 2.6 million total average viewers in prime time. MSNBC landed in second place with 656,000 average total day viewers and 1.21 million average prime time viewers. CNN brought in 411,000 average total day viewers and 519,000 average total prime time viewers.

Fox News was the only network to be up across the board year over year for the month, with a 28% increase in total day viewers and a 31% increase in prime time. CNN was down 18% in total day and 17% in prime time. MSNBC was down 24% in total day and 4% in prime time compared to April of 2024.

MSNBC does have a silver lining, however, as the network’s prime time audience has nearly doubled since its pre-inauguration drop following President Donald Trump’s November victory. April was the network’s highest-rated month since October. Rachel Maddow’s prime time show also cracked the top 10 shows on cable news for the month, with Fox scoring the other 13 programs in the top 14.

Fox’s weekday prime time ratings landed as the second highest on all of television, beating out ABC’s 2.9 million average viewers and NBC’s 2.8 million with a very solid 3.1 million average viewers. CBS led overall with 4.9 million total viewers.

So far in 2025, Fox has averaged 3.5 million weekday prime time viewers, compared to NBC’s 3.1 million and ABC’s 3 million – despite both broadcast networks appearing in more houses across the country.

As for the first 100 days of Trump’s second term, Fox scored the highest ratings in cable history for the often news-heavy period. Fox led with an average of 1.9 million total viewers during the first 100 days, while MSNBC brought in 640,000 total viewers and CNN had 430,000 total average viewers.

In April, Fox’s The Five continued its dominance in the cable news industry, bringing in both the most total viewers and the most viewers in the key 25-54 age demographic. The Five brought in 4.1 million total viewers and 447,00 demo viewers to secure the top spot. Jesse Watters Primetime landed second with 3.6 million total viewers and 421,000 demo viewers, while Gutfeld! Came in third with 3.05 million total viewers and 375,000 demo viewers.

Maddow was MSNBC’s top show with 2.1 million average viewers, while Erin Burnett led CNN with 634,000 total average viewers.