Building momentum heading into the Presidential election next month, Fox News Channel continued to build its lead prime-time viewership among all cable TV networks in September.
Fox was up 10% compared to August to 2.5 million prime-time viewers and 48% higher than a year ago, according to Nielsen’s live-plus-same day viewing data. Total day viewing also grew 34% versus a year ago to 1.4 million -- also leading all cable TV news networks.
With Presidential election news now just less than 30 days away, September also witnessed the highly viewed Presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump on ABC. The debate was simulcast on many cable and broadcast networks.
Two other cable news network competitors lost ground on a month-to-month basis -- but rose versus the same month a year ago.
advertisement
advertisement
MSNBC was second to Fox at 1.4 million prime-time viewers -- down 22% from the previous month, but up 17% versus the year before.''Total day viewing was up 16% to 921,000 versus 2023."
CNN landed at 853,000 prime-time viewers -- also down 21%, and 56% higher than a year ago. It finished in fourth place among all cable TV networks. Total day viewers were up 18% versus a year ago to 541,000.
The strongest-performing show for the month was Fox News’ “The Five,” earning 3.3 million. MSNBC had its best result from “Deadline: White House with Nicole Wallace," with 1.8 million. CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” earned 915,000 viewers.