The prime time television arena in 2025 is a slaughterhouse, and Fox News is wielding the biggest cleaver. The Big Four—ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox—are getting trounced, bleeding viewers while Fox News racks up numbers that scream one thing: America’s fed up with the globalist garbage peddled by legacy media. From an America First perspective, these Nielsen ratings aren’t just stats—they’re a middle finger to the elites and a victory for patriots who want truth over Hollywood tinsel. Let’s dive into the raw viewership data for June and Q2 2025, with a laser focus on news viewership, compare it to historical trends, and shine a spotlight on Fox News’s absolute dominance.
In Q2 2025, Fox News averaged 3 million weekday prime time viewers (8-11 p.m. ET), topping ABC’s overall prime time haul of 2.977 million, NBC’s 2.704 million, and CBS’s 2.1 million. These Big Four numbers cover everything—scripted shows like CBS’s Tracker (17.34 million across platforms), ABC’s High Potential (16.16 million), and NBC’s Law & Order: SVU, plus their news specials. Fox News, driven entirely by its news and opinion lineup, still came out on top. For the week of June 30 to July 6, Fox News pulled 2.8 million viewers, beating NBC’s 2.4 million, CBS’s 2 million, and ABC’s 1.9 million. On July 9, Fox News hit 2.949 million, outpacing NBC (2.345 million), CBS (1.795 million), and ABC (1.285 million). Even when ABC spiked to 3.053 million on July 10, Fox News held strong at 2.770 million, ahead of CBS (2.250 million) and NBC (1.898 million). This made June 2025 Fox News’s second-highest-rated June ever, trailing only June 2020’s pandemic-driven 3.2 million.
Zooming in on news viewership, Fox News’s prime time lineup is a juggernaut. The Five averaged 3.851 million viewers in Q2, Jesse Watters Primetime hit 3.431 million, and Hannity pulled 2.9 million, with 434,000 in the 25-54 demographic. Gutfeld! outdrew broadcast late-night shows like Colbert, Kimmel, and Fallon, while Special Report with Bret Baier (6 p.m. ET) averaged 2.5 million. Compare that to the Big Four’s evening news: ABC’s World News Tonight led with 7.37 million viewers in Q2, followed by NBC’s Nightly News at 5.79 million and CBS’s Evening News at 4.46 million. But in prime time, their news specials—like ABC’s 20/20 or NBC’s Dateline—struggle to hit 2 million, getting smoked by Fox News’s news-driven slate. Fox News’s coverage of the U.S. airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June spiked its viewership to 3.3 million, topping all broadcast networks.
Rewind a decade, and the Big Four owned prime time with overall viewership that dwarfed cable news. In June 2015, CBS averaged 5.9 million viewers (scripted and news), NBC 5.4 million, ABC 5.2 million, and Fox 3.8 million, while Fox News pulled 1.8 million for its news lineup. By June 2020, CBS hit 4.8 million, NBC 4.2 million, ABC 4.1 million, and Fox 2.9 million, with Fox News at 2.3 million. Fast forward to June 2025, and the Big Four’s overall prime time numbers are in freefall: CBS at 2.1 million (down 64% from 2015), NBC at 2.704 million (down 50%), ABC at 2.977 million (down 43%), and Fox at 1.599 million on July 9 (down 58%). Fox News, meanwhile, jumped 23% from May 2024’s 2.4 million to 3 million in Q2, nearly matching its 2020 peak.
Fox News’s news dominance is even clearer against cable rivals. In Q2, it owned a 62% share of the cable news audience, hitting 65% during Independence Day week, while CNN limped along at 374,000 prime time viewers and MSNBC managed 1.01 million. In May 2025, Fox News’s 2.9 million viewers topped ABC’s overall 2.7 million, and in March, it beat ABC (2.8 million) and NBC (2.6 million) with 3 million. Its prime time shows resonate with America First patriots, hammering home truths about tariffs, border security, and the woke swamp that the Big Four tiptoe around. The Five has been cable news’s top show for 15 straight quarters, and Gutfeld!’s late-night wins show viewers want wit over sanctimony.
The Big Four’s overall prime time numbers rely on scripted hits, but streaming’s eating them alive—Nielsen reported 44.8% of TV viewership went to streaming in May 2025, compared to 20.1% for broadcast and 24.1% for cable. Their news programs, while strong in evening slots, can’t compete in prime time against Fox News’s firepower. CBS’s 60 Minutes reruns and NBC’s Dateline are lucky to hit 2 million, while ABC’s news specials tank. The Big Four’s glory days of 10-20 million viewers for 1980s and 1990s hits like Cheers or ER are long gone, halved by 2010 and now a fraction of that.
This ratings rout is a cultural smackdown. Americans are ditching the Big Four’s preachy dramas and soft news for Fox News’s unapologetic stand on what matters: jobs, borders, and national pride. The 3 million viewers tuning into Fox News’s prime time news aren’t just numbers—they’re a rebellion against a media elite that’s been fleecing our values for years. While ABC, CBS, and NBC churn out more of the same, Fox News is proving that when you put America first, the audience shows up in droves.