TV Ratings: Fox News Caps Big October With Underwhelming Trump Interview

Fox News remained atop the cable-news ratings for October, but an interview with President Donald Trump on Monday’s Ingraham Angle didn’t move the show’s ratings — already at their best ever — any higher.

Coverage of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation and the run-up to the midterm elections helped grow Fox’s numbers for the month. The channel averaged 1.69 million viewers for the total day, up 16 percent from October 2017, and 332,000 in the key news demographic of adults 25-54, a 3 percent gain.

The gains were bigger in primetime, with Fox News rising 25 percent overall vs. a year ago to 2.83 million viewers and 13 percent in the 25-54 demo to 540,000. Both the total-day and primetime viewer averages beat the combined numbers for MSNBC and CNN.

MSNBC finished second for the month with 909,000 total-day viewers (up a slight 1 percent) and 1.58 million in primetime (even with October 2017). CNN is down a little year to year in total day (689,000, -5 percent) but up 1 percent in primetime at 931,000. Both networks fell by double digits in the 25-54 demo.

The president’s Monday night appearance on The Ingraham Angle gave the show the biggest primetime cable-news audience at 2.92 million people. That, however, is off slightly (2 percent) from its October average of 2.97 million — the show’s best month ever. 

Trump’s recent 60 Minutes appearance was also not a huge draw, with the CBS program down vs. both its prior NFL-fueled episode and the then-president-elect’s 2016 appearance. 

Also on Monday, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show (2.81 million) finished as close to Fox’s Hannity (2.84 million) as it has in several weeks. Hannity is averaging just under 3.5 million viewers for the month, compared to 2.58 million for Maddow.

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