Fox News regularly receives criticism from rival networks and left-wing pundits. However, the negative commentary seems to have had little, if any, impact on the network’s ratings, as Fox News Channel dominated in 2024, breaking numerous ratings records during the year.
The network finished 2024 with the largest share of the cable news audience in almost ten years, according to a press release. It was the top-rated network “throughout the political cycle” and “more viewers tuned into the network for breaking news coverage of major events than any other cable news channel.” Additionally, Fox News Channel programs accounted for 70 of the top 100 ranked news telecasts in 2024 and maintained the “highest length of tune in the genre across all categories.”
Information from Nielsen Media Research showed that Fox News Channel was the “highest-rated network in all of television” for nine consecutive years. Moreover, it attained 56% of the prime-time cable news and 53% of the total day audiences, marking the network’s highest percentage of viewers in these categories since 2015. Fox News Channel increased in nearly every category compared to last year and posted significant double-digit gains in viewership in 2024 compared to 2023.
Furthermore, as other networks experienced viewership declines, Fox achieved “double and triple-digit advantages over the competition in viewers, A25-54 and A18-49.” Regarding prime-time cable news ratings, the network topped CNN and MSNBC combined, with 2,384,000 viewers in 2024, a 30% increase from the previous year, and 294,000 viewers between the ages of 25 and 54, a 40% increase from 2023, according to the release.
Of particular interest was the network’s performance, with viewers not considered among its stereotypical demographic. Long considered a conservative, Republican, or right-wing network, data from Nielsen MRI Fusion showed that Fox News Channel fared particularly well with viewers who identified as Democrats or Independents, noted the release. More people in the coveted ages 25-54 demographic from those groups chose Fox News Channel over other networks, noted the release. Furthermore, Fox News Channel was the highest-rated network among Asian and Hispanic viewers.
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This dominance with cable news viewers has resulted in Fox News Channel being the “highest-rated network across the board for all political coverage with the most politically diverse audience in cable news,” according to the release.
“Throughout coverage of a tumultuous political cycle, wars in the Middle East, and major breaking news events, millions of viewers across the political spectrum continued to tune into FOX News Channel for our unrivaled reporting and analysis,” said FOX News Media CEO Suzanne Scott. “I am extremely proud of our entire team for proving once again why we are the nation’s most-watched network as we outpaced the competition in covering the stories that mattered most to everyday Americans.”
