Fox News continues cable news lead over MS NOW, CNN in October viewership
Fox News Channel continued its streak as the most-watched cable news network with 1.1 million average total viewers throughout October 2026.
Fox News Channel maintained its viewership lead among cable news rivals throughout October, according to Nielsen Media Research data.
The network reached an average of 1.1 million total day viewers Monday through Sunday, more than 50% of the share of the cable news audience and topping the combined audiences of MS NOW and CNN.
MS NOW trailed in second place with 588,000 average total day viewers while CNN averaged just 402,000.
Fox News commanded the lead in primetime as well, averaging 1.7 million total viewers. MS NOW came in second with 925,000 total viewers and CNN came in third with 598,000.
October marked Fox News Channel's 68th consecutive month leading in both daytime and prime-time viewership among the other cable news networks.
"The Five" maintained its status as the most-watched show in all cable news with 2.7 million total viewers, while "Jesse Watters Primetime" also continued its streak as the most-watched cable news show in primetime with 2.3 million viewers.
"Special Report with Bret Baier," "Gutfeld!" and "The Ingraham Angle" rounded out the five most-watched shows among the cable news networks.
Meanwhile, Fox News also continues to make great strides in the digital landscape. Throughout 2026, Fox News has collected more than 3.8 billion views on YouTube, making it the most-watched news brand on the platform, according to data from Emplifi.