With Tucker Carlson no longer holding court in Fox News’ 8 p.m. hour, there’s a new cable news ratings leader among Adults 25-54: The Five.
The roundtable news talk program has consistently been the most-watched cable news offering over the past couple of years, but its top ranking now extends to younger news demo; at least for now.
In May 2023, Fox News’ 5 p.m. show averaged 276,000 adults 25-54 and 2.63 million total viewers.
Jesse Watters Primetime is now cable news’ second most-watched program, averaging 2.14 million in May. Fox News’ 7 p.m. show is followed by Hannity ( 1.91 million at 9 p.m.), Special Report with Bret Baier ( 1.81 million at 6 p.m.) and late night-themed show Gutfeld! (1.65 million at 11 p.m.) rounding out the top five in average total viewers for May 2023.
The Ingraham Angle, the new 8 p.m. show Fox News Tonight (which lost 50% of its average total audience from April), MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace and Outnumbered round out the top 10.
Fox News is home to 14 of the 20 most-watched cable news shows in May, while MSNBC is home to the other six.
Anderson Cooper 360 is CNN’s most-watched show in May, averaging only 646,000 total viewers at 8 p.m. That’s No. 27 overall on cable news.
Here are the 10 most-watched cable news shows for May 2023, as per live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen.
- Fox News | 5 p.m. /The Five: 2,627,000 / 19 telecasts
- Fox News | 7 p.m./Jesse Watters Primetime: 2,137,000/ 14 telecasts
- Fox News | 9 p.m./ Hannity: 1,914,000 / 15 telecasts
- Fox News | 6 p.m. / Special Report with Bret Baier: 1,813,000 / 19 telecasts
- Fox News | 11 p.m./Gutfeld! : 1,651,000 / 18 telecasts
- Fox News | 10 p.m./The Ingraham Angle: 1,578,000 / 15 telecasts
- Fox News | 8 p.m./Fox News Tonight: 1,515,000 / 19 telecasts
- MSNBC | 10 p.m. | The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell: 1,485,000 / 19 telecasts
- MSNBC | 4-6 p.m. / Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace: 1,421,000 / 20 telecasts
- Fox News | 12 p.m. / Outnumbered: 1,416,000 / 19 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.
8 p.m. on Fox News is no longer top dog, as mentioned earlier. The Five is No. 1 in May with 276,000 A25-54, with Gutfeld! (224,000) improving from fifth to second place, Jesse Watters Primetime (194,000), Special Report with Bret Baier (187,000) and Hannity (178,000) rounding out the top five in May among the demo.
Fox News has each of the top 10 shows on cable news among adults 25-54. Despite losing -61% of its A25-54 audience from April, Fox News’ new 8 p.m. offering Fox News Tonight rounds out the May top ten among Adults 25-54. It edged out timeslot rival All In With Chris Hayes by only +4,000 viewers (151,000 vs. 147,000) — the closest Fox News and MSNBC have been in the hour in many years.
For the first time since its 2017 launch, Deadline: White House finished No. 1 at 4 p.m. in total viewers and among Adults 25-54.
Separately, Anderson Cooper 360 is CNN’s top show among adults 25-54 (138,000) and tied for No. 18 on cable news with MSNBC’s The Last Word.
Here are the top 10 cable news shows in the key demo for May ’23, as per live-plus-same-day data from Nielsen:
- Fox News | 5 p.m. / The Five: 276,000 / 19 telecasts
- Fox News | 11 p.m./Gutfeld!: 224,000 /18 telecasts
- Fox News | 7 p.m. / Jesse Watters Primetime: 194,000 / 14 telecasts
- Fox News | 6 p.m. / Special Report with Bret Baier: 187,000 / 19 telecasts
- Fox News | 9 p.m. / Hannity: 178,000 / 15 telecasts
- Fox News | 10 p.m./The Ingraham Angle: 177,000 / 15 telecasts
- Fox News | 12 p.m./Outnumbered: 173,000 / 19 telecasts
- Fox News | 11 a.m./The Faulkner Focus: 166,000 / 19 telecasts
- Fox News | 9-10 a.m., 10-11 a.m. / America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino: / 38 telecasts
- Fox News | 8 p.m. / Fox News Tonight: 151,000 / 19 telecasts
Below, the full cable news program ranker sorted by most to fewest Adults 25-54:
May 2023 (Adults 25-54) by alexanderkatz5 on Scribd