Fox News led cable news in September, with its top programs continuing to draw the largest audiences. CNN and MS NOW also posted notable show-level performances during the month.
What We Know: Fox News dominated the September cable news ratings, with The Five averaging 2.8 million viewers per episode. Jesse Watters Primetime also averaged 2.8 million, while Gutfeld! followed with 2.5 million viewers.
Meanwhile, MS NOW’s highest-rated program was The Rachel Maddow Show, which averaged 1.8 million viewers per episode. CNN’s top program was NewsNight with Abby Phillip, which averaged 610,000 total viewers. Across the networks, Fox News also led both primetime and total-day viewing.
What the Numbers Show:
September 2026 Primetime Viewership
| Network | Viewers |
|---|---|
| Fox News | 1.7 million |
| MS NOW | 839,000 |
| CNN | 539,000 |
| Newsmax | 182,000 |
| NewsNation | 96,000 |
September 2026 Total Day Viewership
| Network | Viewers |
|---|---|
| Fox News | 1.1 million |
| MS NOW | 544,000 |
| CNN | 373,000 |
| Newsmax | 111,000 |
| NewsNation | 54,000 |
Q3 2026 Primetime Viewership
| Network | Viewers |
|---|---|
| Fox News | 2.1 million |
| MS NOW | 930,000 |
| CNN | 607,000 |
| Newsmax | 185,000 |
| NewsNation | 120,000 |
Q3 2026 Total Day Viewership
| Network | Viewers |
|---|---|
| Fox News | 1.3 million |
| MS NOW | 592,000 |
| CNN | 426,000 |
| Newsmax | 117,000 |
| NewsNation | 61,000 |
What Remains Unclear: The September figures show how the three networks performed during the month, but they don’t explain the factors behind individual program gains or declines. Nielsen’s data also doesn’t indicate how much viewing shifted among cable news programs because of major news events during September.
What It Means: Fox News maintained a substantial audience advantage across both primetime and total-day viewing. However, MS NOW continued to draw a larger audience than CNN in each of the four network-level categories, while the individual program figures show a similar gap among the networks’ leading shows.
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