# Fox News Ratings Sink a Staggering 27% in October, but It Still Has Much a Larger Audience Than CNN or MS NOW

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/fox-news-ratings-sink-a-staggering-27-in-october-but-it-still-has-much-a-larger-audience-than-cnn-or-ms-now/
- Published: 2026-10-28T15:10:23+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-04T00:45:49+00:00
- Original publisher: Variety
- Original article: https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/fox-news-ratings-plunge-october-2026-cnn-ms-now-1236933379/
- Topics: Americas, Art, Culture, Elections, Politics, World

## Key points

- Fox News’ October total-day audience fell 27% to 1.1 million.
- CNN and MS NOW recorded modest audience gains.
- Fox says it remains ahead on YouTube views.

## Summary

Fox News’ average total-day audience fell 27% in October to 1.1 million viewers, its lowest monthly figure since December 2023, according to preliminary Nielsen data. The decline comes ahead of the US midterm elections and stands out because CNN and MS NOW have recently recorded modest audience growth, although Fox remains the most-watched cable news network.

Fox averaged 98,000 viewers aged 25 to 54, down 32%; its October primetime audience was about 2 million, down 28% year on year. MS NOW’s daytime audience rose 16% to 588,000 and CNN’s increased 3% to 402,000. Fox’s representative pointed to its 3.8 billion YouTube views year to date through 27 October, ahead of MS NOW at 3 billion and CNN at 2.4 billion; Donald Trump has also criticised Fox for giving too much attention to Democratic views.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.