August Cable News Ratings: Fox News #1, MSNBC Close Behind

While Fox News marked a 30-month winning streak atop cable news in the August ratings, MSNBC’s sustained surge showed no signs of abating as the industry remained in a clear state of flux. CNN’s ratings woes continued in the month as the network announced a new CEO, Mark Thompson, who is reportedly set to not only replace Chris Licht but bring in his own team to try and turn the network around.

While CNN gets its third new leader in eighteen months, some of cable’s best-known names showed their staying power. Sean Hannity, who holds the record as the longest-running prime time host, ended the month at number one in the key 25-54 age demographic, while Fox’s long-dominate panel show The Five won in total viewers.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, who only hosts her show on Mondays, posted massive numbers for the month with 3 million total average viewers and 339,000 average demo viewers.

The Five topped the charts with 2.7 million total average viewers, while Jesse Watters Primetime came in second with 2.5 million, Hannity landed third with 2.4 million and MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell surged into fourth with 2 million total average viewers. Greg Gutfeld landed in fifth place with his new prime time show scoring 1.96 million total viewers. In the demo, Hannity led with 289,000 viewers, just beating The Five’s 287,000. Gutfeld! came in third with 278,000, Jesse Watters Primetime was fourth with 243,000, while The Last Word landed in fifth with 211,000.

Of the top 20 shows on cable news in total viewers, Fox News landed 12, while MSNBC had 8 – a noticeable increase for the latter from previous months. MSNBC boasted its highest overall monthly audience this August in more than two years — since April of 2021. The network was also the only one to post year-over-year gains in viewership. In total viewers, MSNBC was up 19% and gained 23% in the demo. Meanwhile, Fox was down 21% in total viewers and 32% in the demo when compared to last August. CNN posted more steady year-over-year numbers, shrinking by 3% in total viewers and 5% in the demo.

Fox, however, did show movement in the right direction as its revamped prime time lineup, launched on July 17th, not only beat both MSNBC and CNN in total viewers and the demo, but posted significant increases from previous months.

The network notched a 32% gain in total prime time viewership and a whopping 59% gain in the demo from its April 24th to July 24th average — the time period between Tucker Carlson’s firing and the new lineup. Fox’s prime time lineup beat its June numbers, the last full month before the launch, with a 26% increase in total viewers and 47% increase in the demo.

Despite Fox’s gains in prime time, MSNBC managed to still gain ground and further close the gap between second and first in the ratings, particularly in the demo. MSNBC ended August only 14,000 average viewers behind Fox in the demo (not including the GOP debate) with hosts like Ari Melber and Joy Reid winning their hours in the demo for the first time.

CNN, which landed in a solid third place overall, posted month-over-month gains and notched several wins in the demo during the weekend.

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

Alex Griffing is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Send tips via email: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @alexgriffing