Fox News October Audience Falls 28%, Lowest in 25 Years

Fox News lost 28% of its October audience year over year, and its total-day viewership among adults 25 to 54 fell to 98,000 — the lowest monthly level in 25 years, according to Nielsen. Lachlan Murdoch, executive chairman and chief executive of Fox Corporation, attributes the slide to "viewer fatigue" rather than competitive defection.

"The business is in incredibly good shape and we're very proud of the team," Murdoch told analysts Monday on the company's quarterly earnings call. "What we are seeing, though, is some viewer fatigue where our viewers have gone through some incredible news cycles the last few years."

What does the decline change for Fox?

For now, very little financially. Fox's fiscal first quarter was strong, driven by record-setting audience levels for the FIFA World Cup and robust political ad sales on its TV stations. Fox News' audience also declined during that quarter, and the company reported lower digital news advertising revenue, but the ratings slide had no impact on earnings.

The network says it remains on pace for its highest-rated midterm year in total day viewers. Its total-day average was 1.1 million viewers in October, down from 1.5 million a year earlier. Fox News holds slightly more than a 50% share of the combined audience for the three major cable news channels, keeping it the dominant leader over CNN and MS NOW, both of which gained viewers last month.

Murdoch argued the year-over-year comparison is skewed by a 2025 news cycle that included President Trump's inauguration and the murder of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, which spiked ratings last fall. He also said Fox News viewers are not switching to MS NOW or CNN; they are simply watching slightly less television. The October gains at both rival networks, however, suggest the fatigue is not shared across all of cable news.

A familiar political pattern

Tuning out when your side struggles is not unique to the right. Progressive-leaning MS NOW, formerly MSNBC, saw ratings drop sharply in the months following Trump's victory over then-Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

Murdoch cited a comparable Fox News dip during the 2006 midterm campaign under then-President George W. Bush, when Republican viewers were also turned off by the administration's botched handling of Hurricane Katrina.

He did not mention late 2020, when viewers tuned out over the network's election coverage, including its call of Arizona for Joe Biden. Fox News' repeated airing of Trump's false fraud claims led to a Dominion Voting Systems defamation suit settled for $787 million in 2023. The network rebounded in early 2021, and again after Tucker Carlson's April 2023 ousting, when he was its most-watched prime-time personality.

Pressures beyond the news cycle

Cord-cutting compounds the problem. The number of homes with pay-TV subscriptions keeps shrinking as consumers abandon cable and satellite for streaming, although CNN and MS NOW gained viewers despite the same trend.

Fox has tried to recoup those losses through Fox One, its direct-to-consumer streaming service. Murdoch touted its growth and said it is fulfilling its mission of signing consumers who no longer have pay TV. The company has not revealed subscription numbers.

Political friction adds another variable. Trump has complained that Fox News gives too little coverage to his rallies and too much attention to Democratic candidates, even as the network's opinion hosts continue to deliver strong support for him. The network has devoted more airtime to polls pointing to a strong Democratic night in Tuesday's midterms, driven by voter unhappiness over Trump's handling of the economy and the war with Iran. Candidates backed by the Democratic Socialists of America have engaged with Fox anchors even as opinion hosts paint them as dangerous radicals.

Fox's history of post-dip rebounds suggests the audience returns when the news cycle does. The open question is whether Fox One can convert enough cord-cutters before that rebound arrives.