You have to hand it to the cable news racket. While the other two networks spend their days wringing their hands over the state of democracy and chasing after the sort of viewers who think a cheeseburger is a hate crime, Fox News just keeps doing what it does: reporting the news straight, without the side of sanctimony. And guess what? The American people are responding like it’s happy hour at the VFW.
Primetime Punch: Fox Leaves Everybody Else Eating Dust
In February 2026, Fox News averaged 2.612 million viewers in primetime from Monday through Sunday. That’s 34 percent more than CNN and MSNBC combined, which scraped together a grand total of 1.94 million. Break it down and you get CNN at 807,000 and MSNBC at 1.14 million. On weekdays, Fox jumped to 3.072 million.
For good measure, Fox also beat CBS in primetime—2.612 million to 2.4 million. CBS, mind you, just posted its weakest February primetime performance since the year 2000, back when people still thought Y2K was going to end civilization. In the advertiser-friendly 25-to-54 age group, Fox pulled 260,000 viewers in primetime. CNN managed 154,000. MSNBC got 131,000. The gap is so wide you could drive a convoy of F-150s through it.
Total Day Dominance: The Quiet Victory
The story holds up all day long. Fox averaged 1.719 million total-day viewers Monday through Sunday, which is 35 percent more than the combined total for CNN and MSNBC. Fox’s nearest rivals in total day came in at 565,000 for CNN and 709,000 for MSNBC. Again, the 25-to-54 demo followed the same pattern: Fox at 168,000, far ahead of the pack.
Every single one of the top 100 cable news telecasts for the month belonged to Fox. Every last one. The Five, Jesse Watters Primetime, Special Report, Gutfeld!, The Ingraham Angle—they all cleaned up. When your entire lineup is the entire top 100, that’s not a winning streak. That’s just Tuesday.
Momentum Building: February Roars Back from January
January set the stage. Fox started the year with 2.046 million in primetime and 1.442 million total day. Then February hit and everything jumped: primetime up 28 percent, total day up 19 percent. The 25-to-54 demo rose 32 percent in primetime and 18 percent total day.
All three networks saw gains month-over-month, sure. But when your baseline is already triple the size of the competition, a 28 percent bump looks less like catching up and more like lapping the field while they’re still tying their shoes.
The State of the Union: Proof in Prime Time
President Trump’s address on February 24 gave the whole industry a shot in the arm, but Fox took the needle and ran with it. Coverage surrounding the speech delivered 9.1 million viewers on Fox News Channel alone. That’s the network’s highest-rated primetime block in nearly a year. When real stakes are on the table—borders, economy, the actual state of the union—the audience knows exactly where to turn.
Twenty-Four Straight Years at the Top
This isn’t a fluke. Fox has now led cable news for 24 consecutive years. In a business where executives change faster than the weather in Chicago, that kind of consistency means one thing: the product connects with the country that actually pays the bills.
The other networks can keep chasing the same shrinking pool of coastal viewers who want their news delivered with a side of eye-rolling and moral lectures. Fox will keep showing up for the truck drivers, the factory workers, the small-business owners, the folks who still believe America comes first. And every month the numbers roll in, the remotes keep voting the same way.
The ratings don’t lie. The American people aren’t confused. They’re just tuned in to the one channel that isn’t. And right now, in February 2026, that channel is winning bigger than ever. Pass the remote—and maybe a cigar. This one’s worth celebrating.