September proved to be an even slower news month than August, as all three cable news networks finished with month-to-month losses in total viewers and the Adults 25-54 demo during primetime and total day.
Fox News remained the most-watched cable news network, but its primetime total viewers numbers fell below the 2 million mark. Meanwhile, CNN’s comfortable second-place lead in the demo nearly evaporated as 1,000 viewers separated it from MS NOW.
Fox News
According to Nielsen big data + panel, Fox News had 1.717 million total viewers in primetime and 156,000 viewers in the Adults 25-54 demo in September. During total day, it had 1.112 million total viewers and 106,000 viewers in the demo.
Compared to its August 2026 performance, Fox News was down -19% in total viewers and -17% in the A25-54 demo during primetime. In total day, the network fell -18% in total viewers and -11% in the demo compared with the previous month.
Looking at Fox News’ performance against the same month in 2025, it declined by -32% in total viewers and -44% in the demo during primetime. While in total day, it was down by -31% in total viewers and -40% in the demo.
The network finished September in second place among total viewers and was third in the demo during primetime. During total day, it remained in first place in total viewers and was No. 2 in the demo.
MS NOW
MS NOW finished second among news networks in total viewers in primetime and total day, with 839,000 and 544,000 viewers, respectively, in September. In the A25-54 demo, the network had 79,000 viewers in primetime and 52,000 during total day.
Compared to August, MS NOW was down -11% in total viewers and -6% in the A25-54 demo during primetime. During total day, it was also down -9% in total viewers and the demo.
Looking at its performance in September 2025, MS NOW was up +4% in total viewers and +14% in the demo during primetime. It was also up +7% in total viewers and +16% in the demo during total day.
MS NOW was the No. 3 cable network during primetime and during total day among total viewers. It finished 13th in the demo during primetime and 11th during total day.
CNN
During primetime in September, CNN had 539,000 total viewers and 90,000 A25-54 viewers. Looking at total day, the network had 373,000 total viewers and 53,000 demo viewers.
Compared to the previous month, CNN fell by -14% in total viewers and -17% in demo viewers during primetime. It was down by -15% in total viewers and -20% in the demo during total day.
