Another month, another ratings win for Fox News. FNC finished November 2020 as the most-watched cable network for the 53rd consecutive month, averaging nearly 4 million total viewers in prime time. That represents the network’s largest November audience in its history. Fox News was also America’s go-to network on election night, setting a cable news audience record in the process.
FNC posted viewership growth from November 2019. which one should expect. The network was +41% in total prime time viewers, +97% in the prime time demo, +22% in total day total viewers, and +59% in the total day demo.
We expect ratings dominance from Fox News. However, there were some choppy waters last month. Fox News averaged fewer adults 25-54 than CNN in November, and the network lost viewers from October. Its news programming in the afternoon and early evening saw some losses after Nov. 7, as many Fox News diehards were angry at the network’s news division for its accurate decision to project the state of Arizona for Joe Biden on election night 2020.
In fact, compared to October 2020, a non-election month but a record-setting month for Fox News, the network was -20% in total prime time viewers, -15% in the prime time demo, -15% in total day total viewers, and -4% in the total day demo.
Compared to November 2016, (the month of the most-recent presidential election), the trend for Fox News was positive in prime time, but less so in total day. In prime time, FNC was +20% in total viewers, and +6% in the key A25-54 demo. However, in the 24-hour day, Fox News was -1% in total viewers, and -11% among adults 25-54.
Additionally, Fox Business ended the month of November by posting double-digit year-over-year growth across key dayparts in both total viewers and A 25-54, while also delivering the most-watched business program on television: Lou Dobbs Tonight.
The ratings for November 2020 (Nielsen live-plus-same-day data):
- Prime time (Mon.-Sun.): 3,939,000 total viewers / 827,000 A25-54
- Total Day (Mon.-Sun.): 1,940,000 total viewers / 413,000 A25-54
On the Fox News programming front— Tucker Carlson Tonight continues to make cable news history, marking the first time that a cable news program delivered over 5 million viewers for two consecutive months, averaging 5.1 million total in November. Hannity was the top-rated regularly scheduled cable news show in the demo for November, averaging slightly more than 1 million viewers.
The Five was the 3rd-most-watched regularly scheduled cable news show for November, followed by The Ingraham Angle.
And despite noise around Newsmax’s 7 p.m. hour, The Story with Martha MacCallum still won the 7 p.m. timeslot in all categories over the cable news competition, averaging 2.8 million viewers and 654,000 in the key A25-54 demo for the month of November.