Fox News Channel continued to dominate television ratings in July, making it the highest-rated network in all of primetime TV—topping not just its cable news rivals but also NBC, CBS, and ABC.
With an average of 2.4 million primetime viewers in July, Fox News outpaced NBC with 2.1 million viewers, CBS and ABC with 2 million viewers each. The network leader delivered 2.8 million average viewers during weekday primetime, beating NBC’s 2.4 million viewers, CBS’s 2 million viewers, and ABC’s 2 million viewers.
This despite Fox News’ being available in only roughly half the number of homes as the broadcast networks (63 million American homes vs. 120 million for the others, according to Mediate.)
The primetime lineup begins at 8 p.m. with “Jesse Waters Primetime,” which is the second most popular cable TV show—trailing only Fox News’ “The Five” (see the top five shows below). “Hannity” drew 2.7 million viewers and 302,000 in the 25-54 age demographic.
Greg Gutfeld’s late-night hit “Gutfeld!” handily beat its competition in July, averaging 2.9 million viewers, 327,000 in the 25-54 demographic, and 207,000 in the 18-49 age group. “Gutfeld!” topped CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” which had 2.2 million viewers. CBS recently canceled Colbert’s show, effective in May 2026, sparking outrage among left-wing viewers.
“Gutfeld!” also outpaced ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” with 1.1 million viewers, NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” with 1 million viewers, “Late Night with Seth Meyers” with 713,000 viewers, and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” with 507,000 viewers.
Fox News’ dominance during primetime extended to daytime programming as well. Throughout the day, Fox News drew an average of 1.5 million viewers in July, followed by MSNBC with 530,000 viewers, and CNN with 370,000 viewers.
From sunrise to primetime, specific Fox News shows fared well against their network competition.
Morning show “Fox & Friends” had a total average viewership of 1.3 million and 169,000 in the 25-54 age demographic. The show outperformed the network morning shows, dominating “CBS Mornings” in 21 major markets, ABC’s “Good Morning America” in 14 markets, and NBC’s “TODAY” in eight markets.
Top-rated cable news show “The Five” maintained a strong 3.5 million viewers and 378,000 in the 25-54 demo, surpassing CBS’ reality hit “Big Brother.”
“Special Report with Bret Baier” beat its network news competition, garnering more than 2.6 million viewers and 288,000 in the 25-54 demo, leading CBS’ “Evening News,” ABC’s “World News Tonight” and NBC’s “Nightly News.”
Overall, the top five show in July were:
- “The Five” (3,528,000 average viewers)
- “Jesse Watters Primetime” (3,144,000)
- “Gutfeld!” (2,908,000)
- “Hannity (2,663,000)
- Special Report (2,609,000)