Fox News' ratings margin hits widest point as it turns 30
Data: Nielsen; Note: Data represents audiences age 2+; Chart: Christine Wang/Axios
Fox News turns 30 on Wednesday with a distinction few legacy TV networks can claim: Its ratings lead over rivals has never been wider.
Why it matters: Fox News president and executive editor Jay Wallace, who has been with the network alongside CEO Suzanne Scott since launch, attributes the brand's durability to consistency in ownership and strategy.
"We've had a pretty consistent model for 30 years," Wallace says. He credited the Murdochs' stewardship for allowing the network to be creative in developing new products and pursuing challenging stories. By the numbers: Fox News' ratings lead over its cable news rivals hit its widest point ever last year, according to Nielsen data, and the network appears poised to maintain that historically wide margin this year, depending on the midterms.
Last year, the network averaged 1.69 million total-day viewers, compared with 551,000 for MS NOW, formerly MSNBC, and 432,000 for CNN.In primetime, that margin was even wider. Fox News averaged 2.65 million daily primetime viewers, compared with 915,000 for MS NOW and 573,000 for CNN.Through Sept. 29, Fox is outpacing CNN and MS NOW combined this year in both total day viewership and primetime. Yes, but: Fox's dominance among total viewers doesn't extend to the key 25- to 54-year-old advertising demographic by the same margin.
In 2025, Fox averaged 180,000 viewers in the demo across total day and 278,000 in primetime, according to Nielsen. Both comfortably led CNN and MS NOW, but Fox has posted substantially larger demo advantages in previous years.That distinction underscores how Fox has retained a significant share of cable audiences even as TV viewing habits have become more and more fractured. Zoom out: While 2020 marked Fox News' biggest year-over-year ratings gain on record, the network's first major audience surge occurred in the years after 9/11.
Wallace says the attacks changed Americans' relationship with news, and it forced Fox News to focus more on international newsgathering. "9/11 really sort of set us on our course," he says. Another turning point for the network was in August 2015, when Fox News hosted the first Republican presidential debate of the cycle.
More than 24 million people tuned in as Donald Trump took the debate stage for the first time, a moment Wallace argues "changed the course of television news and television.""We're still seeing the effects of" that debate, he says.Between the lines: Fox News' close, but at times turbulent, relationship with President Trump has afforded the network significant access, while also drawing scrutiny from media critics and, at times, from Trump himself.
Wallace pointed to anchor Martha MacCallum's recent interview with Michigan Senate contender Abdul El-Sayed as an example of Fox News' programming strategy transcending what its core audience wants to hear."Someone didn't necessarily like that," he says, presumably referencing harsh criticism after the interview from President Trump, "but that's what we do." The big picture: Key to the network's business durability has been leaning into products and talent that resonate with the lifestyle and values of its core audience.
That strategy has allowed the network's brand to outlast major stars, even when they exit. Wallace dismissed the idea that Fox News is preoccupied with competing against its former stars, like Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, arguing that an increasingly fragmented media market gives both the network and independent personalities room to find their own audiences.What's next: Fox News is increasingly focused on making its operation "frictionless," Wallace says, allowing talent to more easily launch new digital products, while making its content easier to access.
The company projected a $500 million in revenue last year for its non-cable TV businesses, which includes podcasts, its Fox Weather and Fox Nation streaming services, books, and products. 