Trump Jump: Fox News Hits Record Viewership for President’s First 100 Days

For Fox News, President Trump’s first 100 days back in the White House were a big success — even when compared to his first term.

The ratings make that clear, with Fox News averaging more viewers — both in primetime and over the course of the entire day — during the first 100 days of President Trump’s second term than during the first 100 days following his 2017 inauguration.

In fact, Fox News just enjoyed the highest-rated first 100 days of any presidency in cable news history, surpassing the record it set in ’17.

Here are the key figures: Fox News has averaged 1.90 million viewers Mon-Sun since the president re-entered the White House on Jan. 20, which is up 13% compared to the 1.68 million the channel averaged during his first 100 days in office in ’17.

The channel’s primetime viewership has also increased 9% compared to 2017, going from an average of 2.81 million viewers each night to 3.06 million this year, according to Nielsen audience data.

That “Trump jump” has not been replicated by CNN and MSNBC, however. CNN’s primetime ratings during the president’s first 100 days have plunged 52% compared to 2017, with the Atlanta-based cable channel averaging 567,000 viewers each night between 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Overall, it was the channel’s third-worst month ever in terms of total viewership, behind December 2024 and July 2000.

MSNBC, meanwhile, has seen a quarter of its primetime viewership go out the window since 2017, going from 1.57 million primetime viewers on average to 1.17 million in ’25, per Nielsen. Both MSNBC and CNN have suffered similar declines for total day viewership as well.

Here’s one other way to look at how the three cable channels stack up: MSNBC and CNN’s combined primetime viewership would have to increase 76% to match the 3.06 million viewers Fox News averaged in Trump’s first 100 days.

A few other ratings points to note: Fox News is set to close the month with its third highest-rated April ever in terms of Mon-Fri viewership, trailing only 2020, when viewers were looking for COVID-19 news, and in 2003, when the channel was covering the Iraq War.

“Jesse Watters Primetime” has continued to be Fox News’ best performer in, you guessed it, primetime, averaging 3.58 million viewers during April. Greg Gutfeld — who is set to host a new game show on the Fox Nation streaming service in May — averaged 3.05 million viewers each night on “Gutfeld!” this month.

On the morning side, “The Five” was Fox News’ top rated show again in April, averaging 4.08 million viewers — its sixth straight month cracking at least 4 million viewers.

So what has worked for Fox News?

Well, the channel has benefited from getting a number of exclusive interviews with members of the Trump administration during the president’s first 100 days; Sean Hannity’s interview with Elon Musk and President Trump in February averaged 5.4 million viewers, and Bret Baier scored an interview with Musk and members of his Department of Government Efficiency in late March. Plus, Baier’s Feb. 28 interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was also a big draw, hitting 6.4 million viewers at its peak.

A Fox News source pointed to tariff news, crackdowns on illegal immigration and the death of Pope Francis as other top stories that drove viewership in April.

Meanwhile, President Trump’s first interview with a broadcast network since returning to office will be with ABC News on Tuesday night.

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