Week of Oct. 12 Cable News Ratings: All Networks Had Gains

When looking at these networks’ performance during the same period a year ago:

• During primetime, Fox News was down -26% in total viewers and -31% in the A25-54 demo. During total day, the network was down -28% in total viewers and -32% in the demo—the only network with declines within this yearly comparison.
• MS NOW was up +13% in total viewers and +48% in the demo. During total day, the network gained +15% in total viewers and +40% in the demo.
• In primetime, CNN was up by +19% in total viewers and +44% in the demo. During total day, it was up by +8% in total viewers and +17% in the demo.

PROGRAMMING:

Fox News held 12 of the 15 spots among the week’s most-watched cable news shows, with The Five in first place with 2.763 million total viewers at 5 p.m. ET. MS NOW was represented in the chart by Monday’s 9 p.m. ET airing of The Rachel Maddow Show, with 1.725 million total viewers at No. 7. The 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. ET editions of Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace took the No. 14 and 15 spots, respectively, with 1.167 million and 1.165 million total viewers.

Fox News held 10 of the 15 top spots in the demo, with The Five moving back to the No. 1 position in the Adults 25-54 demo, with 245,000 viewers. MS NOW’s The Rachel Maddow Show was in seventh place with 152,000 demo viewers. The other two MS NOW programs in the top 15 were The Weeknight, airing five nights a week at 7 p.m., coming in 10th place with 126,000 viewers, and The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, airing weeknights at 10 p.m. ET, averaging 125,000 viewers to take the No. 13 position. CNN had CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip, which airs five nights a week at 10 p.m. ET, at No. 9 with 143,000 viewers, and The Source with Kaitlan Collins, which airs weeknights at 9 p.m. ET, in 12th place with 125,000 demo viewers.

October 12, 2026 (Nielsen Big Data + Panel):

Prime Time

Total Day