Fox News Dominates All of Television In Prime Time So Far This Year — Topping Broadcast Nets
Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via AP
Fox News has kicked off a record-breaking 2025 by crushing its cable news peers in primetime while also outpacing all major broadcast networks in total viewers, despite broadcast being available in more homes across America.
According to Nielsen ratings, the network topped all television networks in weekday primetime (Monday through Friday 8-11 p.m ET) so far this year. Fox prime time from December 30th to March 11th has averaged 3.63 million total viewers, beating out CBS’s 3.57 million for the same time period. NBC landed in third place with 3.13 million viewers, while ABC scored 3.12 million and ESPN rounded out the top five with 3.03 million total viewers.
Fox topping broadcast networks is made all the more stunning by the fact that Fox, which is a paid for cable channel, is in 63 million homes in the U.S. while broadcast networks reach 120 million homes. without cost.
MNSBC and CNN averaged 1.26 million and 635,ooo viewers across prime time, respectively, so far this year.
During the week ending March 9th, Fox saw even stronger ratings. Fox prime time averaged 4.8 million viewers – good enough to best programming on ABC News, NBC News, and CBS News. Fox News pulled in an average of 3.9 million prime-time viewers, with 550,000 in the age 25-54 demographic sought after by advertisers.
That was enough to dominate cable and surpass the broadcast networks and was Fox’s most-watched primetime week since the November election.
In total day ratings (6 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET), the network attracted 2.1 million viewers and 280,000 in the demo.
Fox’s coverage of President Donald Trump’s Joint Address to Congress on March 4 was also a massive ratings win, drawing 10.7 million viewers – the biggest cable news audience for the event.
At one point, a staggering 74 percent of all people who watched the speech were watching it on Fox – which also saw a larger audience than CBS, NBC, and ABC.
The network also led coverage of the Democratic response delivered by Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), with 5.9 million viewers and nearly 1 million in the demo. Aside from Trump’s address to Congress, other programs on Fox have consistently outperformed the competition in 2025.
The Five remains a ratings juggernaut, averaging 4.7 million viewers this year – beating Saturday Night Live and ABC’s NBA Saturday Primetime. The show has actually averaged over four million viewers for 45 consecutive days.
Jesse Watters Primetime at 8 p.m. pulled in 4.4 million viewers and 554,000 in the 25-54 demo, making it the top-rated show among younger viewers in cable news last week.
Hannity at 9 p.m. ET locked in 3.7 million viewers and 503,000 in the demo. Gutfeld! at 10 p.m. continues to be the king of late night, regularly outdrawing The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Fox has also gone beyond dominating evenings.
The network’s daytime lineup is trouncing broadcast competitors. Programs such as Outnumbered, The Faulkner Focus, and The Story with Martha MacCallum are consistently pulling in over 2.4 million viewers, easily beating NBC’s Today in its third hour and CBS Mornings.
Since the election, the top 811 telecasts in cable news all aired on Fox.
