Fox News ratings slide sharply as midterm season exposes growing viewer fatigue
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Fox News' October audience sank to its weakest levels in years, with total-day viewing down 27% and the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demo down 32% year over year, just as midterm politics heats up.
Preliminary Nielsen data obtained by Status show that Fox News averaged about 1.1 million total-day viewers in October, its lowest monthly total since December 2023. In the 25-54 age group prized by advertisers, the network drew roughly 98,000 viewers, its weakest month in that demographic in 25 years and only third among cable news outlets.
The decline amounts to a 27% drop in total viewers and a 32% fall in the 25-54 segment compared with the same month a year earlier. Although Fox News remains the only cable network to top one million total-day viewers for October and still leads overall cable ratings ahead of ESPN, the erosion could undercut Republican momentum heading into 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 posted under 1 million total viewers for the second month in a row, marking 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, summing up the internal view as "Trump doesn't rate anymore."
Fox News has not responded to requests for comment on the Nielsen figures.