Fox News Channel dominates ABC in weekday primetime, delivering highest-rated May for a midterm election year

Fox News Channel defeated ABC in weekday primetime and delivered the highest-rated May in network history for a midterm election year, according to data from Nielsen Media Research.

In addition to finishing as the third highest-rated network in all of television during weekday primetime, FNC averaged 2.8 million viewers during weekday primetime, surpassing ABC's 2.7 million viewers and matching ESPN despite extensive coverage of the NBA and NHL playoffs.

The network also commanded nearly 60% of the cable news audience share across both total day and primetime and accounted for the top 85 cable news telecasts during the month.

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Across viewership, FNC delivered 210,000 in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demographic and was also number one on cable news with Asians, Hispanics and upscale viewers throughout the total day in May.

By contrast, ABC recorded its lowest-rated May primetime performance of the 21st century among both total viewers and the 25-54 demographic. "CBS Evening News" also remained below 4 million viewers for the second consecutive month, while "CBS Mornings" posted the lowest-rated May in the program's history with 1.8 million viewers and 296,000 in the 25-54 demographic.

Fox News' top show "The Five" once again finished as the top-rated show in cable news, averaging 3.6 million viewers and 317,000 viewers in the key 25-54 demographic surpassing the likes of CBS' "CIA," ABC's "Celebrity Jeopardy!" and ESPN's first-round NBA playoff coverage.

At 8 p.m. ET, "Jesse Watters Primetime" led cable news primetime with 3.1 million viewers, while "Hannity" averaged 2.7 million viewers, easily outpacing MS NOW's 9 p.m. lineup of "The Rachel Maddow Show" and "The Briefing with Jen Psaki."

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Fox News' Laura Ingraham also maintained her status as the highest-rated woman on cable news with her show "The Ingraham Angle" averaging 2.5 million viewers.

"Gutfeld!" continued its remarkable run atop late-night television, averaging 2.9 million viewers during May, outperforming ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!," NBC's "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," "Late Night with Seth Meyers" and Comedy Central's "The Daily Show."

Meanwhile, Fox News' flagship evening newscast "Special Report with Bret Baier" averaged 2.7 million viewers and continued narrowing the gap with broadcast competition, leading "CBS Evening News" in 19 top markets including New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. The show also beat ABC's "World News Tonight" in the Jacksonville, New Orleans and Memphis markets.

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"Fox & Friends" remained the number-one cable news morning program for the 63rd consecutive month, averaging 1.3 million viewers, defeating CNN and MS NOW combined among total viewers and leading CBS and ABC in major markets.

Throughout the day, "America's Newsroom," "The Faulkner Focus," "Outnumbered," "America Reports" and "The Story" all averaged between 1.8 million and 1.9 million viewers during the month.

Fox News also won every hour of weekend cable news among both total viewers and adults aged 25-54 beating CNN and MS NOW by double and triple-digits.

On Saturdays, Kayleigh McEnany's "Saturday in America" was the most-watched cable news program of the weekend with more than 1.7 million viewers.

On Sundays, "Sunday Morning Futures" ranked as the day's highest-rated program with 1.7 million viewers, while "Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy" led Sunday primetime with more than 1.5 million viewers.

The ratings report comes as a recent New York Times/Siena poll found Fox News was the leading single source of news among registered voters nationwide, ahead of all other national television, cable and print news organizations.