Fox News trails broadcast rivals in preliminary election night ratings

Television networks typically experience a surge in viewership during midterm election cycles, but preliminary data from the recent contest indicates a shift in audience preferences. Nielsen released Fast Nationals figures on Wednesday that show Fox News Channel lagging behind its major competitors during the prime time window from 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm Eastern Time.

The cable network averaged 3.882 million total viewers during that three hour block. This number placed Fox News behind broadcast networks NBC and ABC, which drew 6.519 million and 4.906 million viewers respectively. Fox also trailed cable rivals CNN and MS Now, which recorded 3.927 million and 3.922 million viewers. The only major network with a lower average in that slot was CBS News, which attracted 2.629 million viewers.

Analysts note that these numbers are preliminary and expect revisions when final data is released on Thursday. Despite Fox’s lower performance, overall interest in election coverage remained high. The six major television networks combined for 25.784 million viewers during prime time. This represents an increase from the 22.215 million viewers recorded during the 2022 midterms.

The current figures mark a sharp decline for Fox News compared to the previous cycle. In 2022, the network averaged 7.422 million viewers during the same time period. The drop coincides with a period of declining approval ratings for President Donald Trump and a recent election where Democrats secured control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The decline in election night ratings is part of a longer trend observed over the past several months. In October, Fox News total day viewership fell by 27 percent compared to the same month in the previous year. Even with this decrease, the channel maintained a lead over CNN and MS Now in total day metrics for that month.

Lachlan Murdoch, the chief executive officer of parent company Fox Corp, addressed the audience trends during an earnings call on Monday. He described the situation as viewer fatigue and acknowledged that the audience base had been under strain. The comments came as the network faced a media environment where traditional loyal viewers were increasingly seeking alternative sources of news.

President Trump, a historical supporter of the network, spent much of election night criticizing Fox News coverage. He attributed Republican losses partly to the network's programming choices. On Tuesday evening, Trump posted on Truth Social mocking the network's October performance figures. He suggested that the 27 percent decline was caused by the channel's practice of interviewing Democratic candidates.

In the post, Trump wrote that ratings were down because the network spent too much time covering what he called the Trump Deranged Democrats. He argued that viewers who switched to other outlets understood the reason for the shift. He concluded by stating that his own numbers were better than they had ever been, framing the issue as a problem for the network rather than himself.