Fox News ratings slip sharply ahead of midterm elections
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Fox News' October viewership fell to its lowest levels in years, with total day audience down 27% and the key 25-54 demographic down 32% compared with last year.
Preliminary Nielsen data obtained by Status indicate that Fox News averaged about 1.1 million total day viewers in October, the lowest monthly total since December 2023. In the 25-54 age group prized by advertisers, the network recorded roughly 98,000 viewers, marking its weakest month in that demographic in 25 years and placing it third among cable news outlets.
The decline represents a 27% drop in total viewers and a 32% fall in the 25-54 segment compared with the same month a year earlier. While Fox News remains the only cable network to exceed one million total day viewers for October and still leads overall cable ratings ahead of ESPN, the reduction may affect Republican momentum ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
Prime-time viewership (8 p.m.-11 p.m.) fell to about 2 million, a 28% decrease from the previous year, and the key 25-54 demographic slipped 36% to roughly 183,000 viewers. Morning program "Fox & Friends" also recorded under 1 million total viewers for the second month in a row, its lowest overall audience since July 2015 and the smallest 25-54 audience since June 2001.
Competitor networks saw modest gains; MS NOW increased its daytime audience by 16% to 588,000 viewers, while CNN rose 3% to 402,000 viewers over the same period.
President Donald Trump criticized Fox News on his Truth Social platform, saying the network devotes too much time to "opponents of Republican Party candidates, people that love our Country, and have Great Policies and Ideas," and accused it of trying to be politically correct. He also urged supporters to turn to Right Side Broadcast News for uninterrupted coverage of his rallies.
"FoxNews is spending far too much time putting on the OPPONENTS of Republican Party Candidates, people that love our Country, and have Great Policies and Ideas," Trump wrote.
An unnamed Fox News host, speaking on condition of anonymity, told CNN that programming decisions are driven by audience fatigue, summarizing the internal view as "Trump doesn't rate anymore."
Fox News has not responded to requests for comment on the Nielsen figures.