ADWEEK; Fox, MS NOW, CNN By Mark Mwachiro --> August is typically a slow news month as audiences soak up what’s left of the summer season. The ratings reflect that, with all three networks recording declines in total viewers during primetime and total day.
The story was a little bit different in the prized Adults 25-54 demo, as CNN bucked the trend and finished in the plus column during primetime and total day. One possible reason for CNN’s sizzling August performance in the demo is its 10 p.m. ET show, CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip , the network’s top show in that category. Phillip’s panel show has become appointment viewing because of its fiery political debates. In addition to CNN NewsNight, CNN’s coverage of the primary elections on August 4 and August 11 yielded strong results for the network in the demo, finishing among its top three nights for the month in the demo.
According to Nielsen big data + panel, Fox News had 2.127 million total viewers in primetime and 188,000 viewers in the Adults 25-54 demo in August. During total day, it had 1.35 million total viewers and 119,000 viewers in the demo.
Compared to its July 2026 performance , Fox News was down -9% in total viewers and -8% in the A25-54 demo during primetime. In total day, the network fell -10% in total viewers and -13% in the demo compared with the previous month.
Looking at Fox News’ performance against the same month in 2025 , it declined by -8% in total viewers and -21% in the demo during primetime. While in total day, it was down by -7% in total viewers and -26% in the demo—the only network with declines within this comparison.
The network finished August in first place among total viewers and was second 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 finished second among news networks in total viewers in primetime and total day, with 940,000 and 597,000 viewers, respectively, in August. The network in the A25-54 demo had 84,000 viewers in primetime and 57,000 viewers during total day.
Compared to July, MS NOW was down -8% in total viewers and -6% in the A25-54 demo during primetime. During total day, it was also down -6% in total viewers and was flat in the demo.
Looking at its performance in August 2025, MS NOW was up +20% in total viewers and +17% in the demo during primetime. It was also up +19% in total viewers and +24% in the demo during total day.
MS NOW was the No. 2 cable network during primetime and during total day among total viewers. It finished 18th in the demo during primetime and 11th in the demo during total day.
During primetime in August, CNN had 624,000 total viewers and 109,000 A25-54 viewers. Looking at total day, the network had 437,000 total viewers and 66,000 demo viewers.
Compared to the previous month, CNN fell by -5% in total viewers but grew by +7% in demo viewers during primetime. It was down by -6% in total viewers but up +6% in the demo during total day.
When looking at its performance to the same month in 2025 during primetime, CNN was up +41% in total viewers and +40% in the demo. It was up +31% during total day and was up +25% in the demo.
CNN finished fifth in primetime and fourth in total day in total viewers among all cable networks. In the demo, it finished 11th in primetime and seventh in total day, tied with FX.
Looking at the August performance of the other news nets:
August 2026 Cable News Ratings (Nielsen Big Data + P…