New month, similar result: Fox News Channel had the most-watched shows on cable news, not only in the total audience but among the key A25-54 demo.
The Five marked yet another month at No. 1 in average total viewers, averaging nearly 3.5 million total viewers in the 5 p.m. hour in April. The panel news-talk program averaged the second-largest A25-54 audience on cable news in April (510,000), according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day data.
Tucker Carlson Tonight remains the top cable news show among adults 25-54. The program averaged 560,000 viewers from the demo at 8 p.m. in April, and averaged 3.39 million total viewers at 8 p.m., with the latter total being No. 2 on cable news.
Fox’s 7 p.m. offering Jesse Watters Primetime took third place in total viewers, averaging 2.92 million, closely followed by Hannity at 9 p.m. (2.89 million), and the 6 p.m. Special Report with Bret Baier (2.6 million) rounding out the top five in average total viewers for April ’22.
After Tucker Carlson Tonight and The Five, Hannity averaged more adults 25-54 than Watters Primetime (450,000 vs. 426,000), with Special Report (396,000) rounding out the top five cable news shows among the ad-friendly demo.
Fox News Channel is home to 66 of the top 100 cable telecasts—the top 12 cable news shows in total viewers—and two shows that averaged more than three million total viewers.
The Rachel Maddow Show was MSNBC’s most-watched show for April (1.63 million viewers at 9 p.m.). Anderson Cooper 360 remained CNN’s most-watched show in April, coming in at No.23 with an 846,000 total-viewer average at 8 p.m.
Here are the 10 most-watched cable news shows for April, 2022, as per live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen.
- Fox News | 5 p.m. /The Five: 3,494,000 / 18 telecasts
- Fox News | 8 p.m. / Tucker Carlson Tonight: 3,389,000 / 19 telecasts
- Fox News | 7 p.m. / Jesse Watters Primetime: 2,924,000 / 12 telecasts
- Fox News | 9 p.m. /Hannity: 2,886,000 / 18 telecasts
- Fox News | 6 p.m. / Special Report with Bret Baier: 2,598,000 / 18 telecasts
- Fox News | 10 p.m. / The Ingraham Angle: 2,251,000 / 18 telecasts
- Fox News | 11 p.m. / Gutfeld!: 2,251,000 / 18 telecasts
- Fox News | 12 p.m. / Outnumbered: 1,985,000 / 19 telecasts
- Fox News | 9-10 a.m., 10-11 a.m. / America’s Newsroom: 1,874,000 / 39 telecasts
- Fox News | 11 a.m. / The Faulkner Focus: 1,812,000 / 19 telecasts
Below, the full cable news program ranker: