The Fox News Channel was already crushing the competition in cable news — and then the network received a Trump bump.
The right-tilting television outlet is flourishing in the aftermath of the November election, lapping its left-of-center rivals and notching ratings milestones as its viewers try to keep up with President Trump’s feverish pace.
“It is probably beyond the wildest dreams of anyone inside Fox News just how much they have surged in terms of both raw ratings and market share,” said Curtis Houck, managing editor of the conservative Media Research Center’s Newsbusters.
After marking 23 consecutive years atop the cable news ratings, Fox celebrated the highest-rated January in its history, averaging nearly 2.8 million prime-time viewers versus 522,000 for CNN and 734,000 for MSNBC, according to Nielsen Media Research data.
Television ratings typically decline immediately after an election, but Fox’s prime-time audience held relatively steady at 2.6 million from Nov. 6 to Feb. 10, representing an 11% increase over the same period in 2024 for both overall prime-time and the coveted 25- to 54-year-old demographic.
Fox’s total day audience soared by 24%, while its total day 25-54 demographic jumped by 23% during the three-month post-election period year-to-year.
How dominant is Fox? More Democrats and independents are watching Fox than its liberal rivals, according to January data from Nielsen/MRI-Simmons Fusion shared with The Washington Times.
Total day figures for adults 18 and over show that 335,000 Democrats watched Fox versus 137,000 for CNN and 189,000 for MSNBC.
The disparity with independent, third-party and unaffiliated voters was even greater. Fox drew 516,000 of those viewers versus 96,000 for CNN and 109,000 for MSNBC.
Why would Democrats switch on Fox News? Mr. Houck said that some of it may represent “hate-watching” by political activists and disgruntled supporters of former Vice President Kamala Harris.
“So you have that,” he said. “But you also have a lot of Democrats who were surprised by the election results and yes, they may be upset and demoralized, but they want to genuinely understand why they lost.”
Fox is also seen as having the inside track as its on-air personalities assume key positions in the Trump administration, led by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
Former CNN White House correspondent Frank Sesno quipped that “Fox enjoys double billing because it’s now a network and it’s half of the administration.”
“If the Democrats are going there [to Fox], my explanation for that is, this is where people are getting what the actual thinking is inside the administration,” said Mr. Sesno, a professor and director of strategic initiatives at the George Washington University School of Media and Public Affairs. “The administration used to be on the air there.”
Fox isn’t just dominating cable news — it’s also challenging the broadcast networks.
Last month, Fox’s “The Faulkner Focus” hosted by Harris Faulkner beat ABC’s “The View” for the first time, drawing 2.55 million viewers versus 2.50 for the talkfest helmed by Whoopi Goldberg.
“Each year, we surpass new milestones, continue to innovate, and outperform the competition due to their tireless efforts and I could not be prouder,” Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott said in a Jan. 28 statement.
Tough times for CNN, MSNBC
The picture is far less rosy for Fox’s chief cable competitors, CNN and MSNBC, which were hit with a staggering post-election Trump slump.
A late November analysis of Nielsen ratings by Forbes found that CNN’s audience fell by 47% and MSNBC’s dropped by 53% after the Nov. 5 balloting.
“MSNBC and CNN Ratings Slashed in Half Post-Election,” read the Nov. 27 headline.
Both networks have clawed back some of their audience since then, but their ratings from Nov. 6-Feb. 10 still lagged well behind those during the same period last year, based on a year-to-year comparison of Nielsen ratings.
In the three months after the election, CNN saw its prime-time audience plummet to 453,000 for a 39% year-to-year decrease, while MSNBC’s viewership fell to 715,000, a 46% drop.
MSNBC responded last month by bringing back Rachel Maddow, its top personality, from one to five nights a week until April 30, helping the network rebound to 1.3 million viewers from Jan. 20-24 after averaging 799,00 in the previous three weeks.
At CNN, the network is undergoing a restructuring that includes cutting 6% of its news staff, including former chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta, and focusing on digital media. Its prime-time lineup rebounded in January by 55% from the previous month, according to AdWeek.
Even so, both CNN and MSNBC had their lowest-rated January ratings ever in the 25-54 demographic, Fox News reported.
“It is hard to top what Fox is doing right now in terms of dominance in just brutalizing CNN and MSNBC on the scoreboard,” Mr. Houck said.
History shows the legacy media may be down but not out. During the first Trump administration, mainstream outlets enjoyed a famed bump as outraged Democrats kicked into resistance mode and CNN personalities like Mr. Acosta went toe-to-toe with the president.
Audiences for CNN and MSNBC may have largely tuned out for the time being due to “crisis fatigue and shellshock,” said Mr. Sesno.
“This is by no means a scientific survey, but the number of people who have told me, ’I’m consuming less news because I have to for my own mental health,’” he said. “A lot on the left are feeling defeated, and watching endless cable news just confronts you with that. They don’t want to wallow in defeat.”
In addition, he said, the progressive left isn’t doing anything particularly newsworthy other than “handwringing and complaining.”
“It doesn’t constitute news. It constitutes the same-old,” Mr. Sesno said. “Whereas on Fox, it’s not the same-old. Trump is actually doing things. He’s turned rhetoric into action as far as many are concerned on the right. This is not a rerun — it’s a sequel.”