Fox News Channel was the most-watched network in all of basic cable in November in total day (1.54 million) for the 9th consecutive month. FNC was the second-most-watched basic cable network in primetime (2.58 million) behind ESPN, and it continued to dominate the cable news competition in both total day and primetime during the month of November. FNC also averaged 420,000 adults 25-54 in primetime and 264,000 adults 25-54 in total day this past month.
Fox News saw +12% in total primetime viewers, +22% in the primetime demo, +10% in total day viewers and +18% in the total day demo from Oct. 2021. The network’s impressive ratings growth from October, especially among younger news viewers, was driven by the network’s highly-rated live coverage of the Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial.
Nov. 2021 was Fox News’ best month in total day and in total primetime viewers since Nov. 2020.
Speaking of the prior November, FNC shed -20% in total day viewers, -36% in the total day demo, -35% in total primetime viewers and -49% in adults 25-54 from Nov. 2020, which was Fox’s highest-rated November in network history. While the year-over-year ratings trend might look bad, it’s not as bad as the year-over-year losses rivals CNN and MSNBC experienced this past month, with those networks having posted record ratings gains during the 2020 election.
The average Nielsen live plus same day impressions for Nov. 2021:
- Prime time (Mon.-Sun.): 2,578,000 total viewers / 420,000 A25-54
- Total Day (Mon.-Sun.): 1,544,000 total viewers /264,000 A25-54
On the regularly-scheduled programming front—Tucker Carlson Tonight ended November as the most-watched show on all of cable news, regaining the title after being edged by The Five in October. Carlson’s 8 p.m. show averaged 3.67 million total viewers and a cable news-high of 651,000 adults 25-54. Carlson’s interview with the aforementioned Rittenhouse lifted the program past the network’s 5 p.m. offering in the rankings. The Five finished No. 2 on cable news in average total viewers (3.51 million), and second among adults 25-54 (557,000).
Additionally, Hannity took third place in average total viewers, posting an average of 3.23 million at 9 p.m., followed by Special Report with Bret Baier (2.77 million) and The Ingraham Angle (2.66 million) rounding out cable news’ top five for November in average total viewers. Fox delivered 14 of the top 15 cable news programs in overall viewers, along with the top 14 programs in the younger 25-54 demo.
Lastly, the network’s 11 p.m. comedy show, Gutfeld! beat The Rachel Maddow Show for the first time since launch. Not something we necessarily expected to see.