In April, Fox News’ weekday 8 p.m. hour—titled Tucker Carlson Tonight and then Fox News Tonight—remained the most-watched hour on cable news, averaging 3.055 million total viewers. Carlson’s highly-rated interviews with Donald Trump and Elon Musk in the middle of the month were apparently enough to offset the significant audience drop off that occurred in the aftermath of Carlson’s stunning exit from the network on April 24.
The Five was the second most-watched cable news show of the month, averaged 3.03 million at 5 p.m. Jesse Watters Primetime remained the third-most-watched cable news show for March (2.78 million), followed once again by Hannity (2.61 million) and Special Report with Bret Baier (2.21 million) rounding out the top five in average total viewers for April 2023.
Fox News Channel is home to the top eight cable news shows in total viewers, with The Ingraham Angle, Gutfeld!, Outnumbered, MSNBC’s The Beat with Ari Melber and Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace rounding out the top 10.
Fox News is home to 15 of the 25 most-watched cable news shows in April, while MSNBC is home to the other 10.
As mentioned, The Beat with Ari Melber is MSNBC’s most-watched show for the month of April. The 6 p.m. program averaged 1.61 million total viewers, up from its March average.
Anderson Cooper 360 is CNN’s most-watched show in April, averaging 782,000 total viewers at 8 p.m. That’s No. 27 overall on cable news, both up from recent months.
Here are the 10 most-watched cable news shows for April 2023, as per live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen.
- Fox News | 8 p.m. / Tucker Carlson Tonight/Fox News Tonight: 3,055,000 / 22 telecasts
- Fox News | 5 p.m. /The Five: 3,026,000 / 22 telecasts
- Fox News | 7 p.m./Jesse Watters Primetime: 2,782,000 / 12 telecasts
- Fox News | 9 p.m./ Hannity: 2,613,000 / 21 telecasts
- Fox News | 6 p.m. / Special Report with Bret Baier: 2,211,000 / 24 telecasts
- Fox News | 10 p.m./The Ingraham Angle: 2,014,000 / 19 telecasts
- Fox News | 11 p.m./Gutfeld! : 1,809,000 / 23 telecasts
- Fox News | 12 p.m. / Outnumbered: 1,619,000 / 24 telecasts
- MSNBC | 6 p.m. | The Beat with Ari Melber: 1,613,000 / 25 telecasts
- MSNBC | 4-6 p.m. / Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace: 1,585,000 / 25 telecasts
Below, the full cable news program ranker sorted by most to fewest total viewers:
How about the top cable news shows among adults 25-54? After all, this is a demographic that advertisers of TV news still focus their ad dollars on.
Tucker Carlson Tonight/Fox News Tonight remains No. 1, averaging 390,000 from the age range in April. The Five remained in second place (338,000), followed by the 12-broadcast Jesse Watters Primetime (319,000), with Hannity (299,000), and Gutfeld! (272,000) rounding out the top five.
Fox News has the top 10 shows on cable news, with Anderson Cooper 360 placing No. 11 in the key A25-54 demo (183,000).
MSNBC’s The Beat with Ari Melber is MSNBC’s top-rated show for April in the demo (178,000), tied for No. 13 with The Story with Martha MacCallum.
Here are the top 10 cable news shows in the key demo for April ’23, as per live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen:
- Fox News| 8 p.m./ Tucker Carlson Tonight: 390,000 / 22 telecasts
- Fox News | 5 p.m. / The Five: 338,000 / 24 telecasts
- Fox News | 7 p.m. / Jesse Watters Primetime: 319,000 / 12 telecasts
- Fox News | 9 p.m. / Hannity: 299,000 / 21 telecasts
- Fox News | 11 p.m./Gutfeld!: 272,000 /23 telecasts
- Fox News | 10 p.m./The Ingraham Angle: 255,000 / 19 telecasts
- Fox News | 6 p.m. / Special Report with Bret Baier: 250,000 / 24 telecasts
- Fox News | 12 p.m./Outnumbered: 203,000 / 24 telecasts
- Fox News | 11 a.m./The Faulkner Focus: 187,000 / 24 telecasts
- Fox News | 9-10 a.m., 10-11 a.m. / America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino: 185,000 / 48 telecasts
Below, the full cable news program ranker sorted by most to fewest Adults 25-54: