NASA’s historic Artemis II mission around the moon and the developments surrounding the Iran war and its economic fallout were some of the major stories in April. The newsy month resulted in CNN and MS NOW registering growth in total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo, respectively, during primetime.
Fox News saw declines in total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo during both dayparts; however, it still led those categories over competitors.
Fox News
According to Nielsen big data + panel, Fox News in April had 2.861 million total viewers in primetime and 284,000 viewers in the Adults 25-54 demo. During total day, it had 1.752 million total viewers and 172,000 viewers in the demo.
Compared to its March 2026 performance, Fox News was down by -4% in total viewers and -12% in the A25-54 demo during primetime viewing hours. While in total day, the network saw gains of -8% in total viewers and +13% in the demo when compared to the previous month.
Looking at Fox News’ performance against the same month in 2025, it grew by +10% in total viewers but dipped by -4% in the demo during primetime. While in total day, it had a +8% gain in total viewers, but fell by -15% in the demo—it was the only network within this yearly comparison to record declines in the demo.
The network finished April in first place among total viewers and was No. 4 in the demo during primetime. During total day, it remained in first place in total viewers and second in the demo.
MS NOW
MS NOW finished in second place in total viewers in primetime and total day, with 1.256 million and 747,000 viewers, respectively, in April. The network in the A25-54 demo had 135,000 viewers in primetime and 80,000 viewers during total day.
Compared to March, MS NOW was flat in total viewers but grew by +4% in the A25-54 demo during primetime. During total day, it was down by -1% in total viewers and was flat in the demo.
Looking at its performance in April 2025, MS NOW was up +4% in total viewers and +29% in the demo during primetime. It was also up +14% in total viewers and +29% in the demo during total day.
MS NOW continued to place in third during primetime and was No. 2 during total day with total viewers. It finished in 9th place in the demo during primetime and ranked seventh in the demo during total day.
CNN
During primetime in April, CNN had 910,000 total viewers and 157,000 A25-54 viewers. Looking at total day, the network had 600,000 total viewers and 92,000 demo viewers.
