“FOX NEWS SLAUGHTERS THE COMPETITION: ONE ANCHOR SWIPES #1 AND #2 — MSNBC BLEEDS, CNN DROWNS, AND THE REST LOOK PATHETIC”

The bloodbath is official: cable news ratings for Q2 of 2025 are out, and Fox News hasn’t just won — it’s obliterated every rival network, leaving MSNBC clinging to Rachel Maddow’s Monday-night life raft and CNN gasping for oxygen like a fish on deck.

According to Nielsen ratings data reported by AdWeek, Fox News claimed 14 out of the Top 15 cable news shows this quarter. Let that sink in. Fourteen. Out of fifteen. If cable news were a war, Fox just carpet-bombed the battlefield and planted its flag in every crater.

The shocker? Not only did Fox dominate — one anchor managed to snatch both the #1 and #2 spots, flexing such outrageous power it’s almost cartoonish. Love him or hate him, Jesse Watters has become the face of Fox’s total ratings stranglehold.

The Big Dogs: Fox’s Top 5 Ratings Killers

#1 — The Five (3.851M viewers)
Fox’s crown jewel remains The Five. In an era where panel shows are often watered-down chaos, this 5 p.m. gab-fest is pure gasoline on dry grass. Greg Gutfeld’s sarcasm, Dana Perino’s establishment polish, Jesse Watters’ smirking provocations, Jessica Tarlov’s lone liberal pushback, and Harold Ford Jr.’s centrist calm create a cocktail viewers can’t resist. With nearly 3.9 million tuning in daily, The Five isn’t just winning its timeslot — it’s outdrawing entire networks.

#2 — Jesse Watters Primetime (3.431M viewers)
The man of the hour: Jesse Watters. Once dismissed as a Bill O’Reilly sidekick, Watters now owns primetime like a mafia boss running the block. His solo show pulls in a monstrous 3.4 million. Whether it’s viral ambush interviews, caustic commentary, or segments designed to enrage liberals on Twitter, Watters has mastered the formula: provoke, polarize, and profit.

#3 — Gutfeld! (3.009M viewers)
Greg Gutfeld’s bizarre, booze-soaked, comedic roundtable continues to humiliate the traditional late-night clowns. With 3 million viewers, Gutfeld! isn’t just beating Fallon, Kimmel, and Colbert — it’s lapping them. Imagine telling CBS execs a Fox News panel of misfits and comedians would outdraw their multimillion-dollar late-night darling. Gutfeld is proving late-night comedy doesn’t need Hollywood approval — just raw mockery and sharp timing.

#4 — Hannity (3.006M viewers)
Sean Hannity, the godfather of Fox primetime, isn’t slowing down. He may not dominate headlines the way he once did, but with 3 million loyalists glued to his nightly sermons, Hannity is still one of Fox’s most reliable warhorses. His ties to the Republican establishment keep him relevant, even if his thunder now shares the sky with newer stars.

#5 — Special Report with Bret Baier (2.888M viewers)
Baier’s straight-laced news delivery provides the gravitas Fox uses to defend itself against “propaganda” critiques. Nearly 2.9 million viewers tune in, proving there’s still massive appetite for hard-news tone delivered through Fox’s lens. Baier isn’t flashy, but he’s trusted — and trust means eyeballs.

The Rest of the Fox Juggernaut

The domination didn’t stop at the top five. Fox’s ratings machine powered through nearly every hour of the day:

#6 — The Ingraham Angle (2.749M): Laura Ingraham sharpens her cultural knives, skewering liberals nightly.

#7 — The Will Cain Show (2.168M): The sports-to-politics crossover that nobody saw coming, Cain is becoming Fox’s “bro voice” for disaffected young conservatives.

#8 — Outnumbered (2.045M): Four conservative women vs. one rotating male guest. Catnip for Fox’s midday audience.

#10 — The Faulkner Focus (1.945M): Harris Faulkner’s hard news show continues to dominate.

#11 — America’s Newsroom (1.941M): Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino hold down the mornings.

#12 — America Reports (1.938M): Roberts and Smith keep viewers hooked through the afternoon.

#13 — The Story with Martha MacCallum (1.913M): Martha still delivers.

#14 — Fox News at Night (1.682M): Late-night wrap-up that keeps Fox’s audience in-house.

#15 — Fox & Friends (1.411M): The morning zoo crew remains a loyalist favorite.

It’s not just dominance. It’s monopoly.

The Lone Survivor: Maddow at #9

The only show to keep Fox from a clean sweep? MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show — clocking in at #9 with 2.039M viewers.

Here’s the kicker: Maddow only works one night a week now. Monday nights. That’s it. One day, one show, and she still crushes every CNN program combined. The irony is brutal — MSNBC’s Monday queen is more powerful than CNN’s entire prime-time slate.

But her reduced schedule is crippling MSNBC overall. With Maddow barely on air, the network’s primetime bench looks like a hollowed-out house of cards.

CNN: Circling the Drain

And then there’s CNN.

The so-called “most trusted name in news” is now the most ignored. Its top show? Erin Burnett OutFront, dragging in a humiliating 610,000 viewers. That’s not even a third of Maddow’s Monday haul, and barely one-sixth of Jesse Watters’ audience.

Meanwhile, Fox’s lowest-rated Top 15 show, Fox & Friends, with 1.4 million, still more than doubles CNN’s best.

This isn’t competition. This is ritual sacrifice.

NewsNation & Newsmax: The Small Players

Elsewhere in the conservative media ecosystem, NewsNation’s Cuomo averaged 170,000 viewers — a 24% gain from last year but still microscopic compared to Fox’s numbers.

Newsmax’s Rob Schmitt Tonight led that network with 412,000 viewers, which in Fox terms is pocket change.

CNBC’s Squawk on the Street topped its network with 220,000, barely enough to fill a sports arena.

The message? None of these “challengers” are actually challenging.

Fox’s Numbers: Slight Dip, Massive Lead

Here’s the twist: Fox’s Q2 numbers are actually down compared to Q1.

Primetime: 2.633M (down 13%)

Total Day: 1.632M (down 15%)

But year-over-year? Fox is up 25% in both categories. That means even when Fox stumbles, it still leaps ahead of the competition.

MSNBC was the only other network not to lose viewers from Q1 to Q2. CNN, meanwhile, continues its freefall into irrelevance.

Why Fox Rules the Kingdom

So why is Fox still the undefeated king of cable news?

Personality-Driven Stars: Watters, Gutfeld, Hannity — love them or hate them, they’re unforgettable. CNN and MSNBC anchors often fade into one another; Fox personalities burn into memory.

Cultural Combat: Fox isn’t just about politics; it’s about the culture war. From Ingraham’s nightly “woke takedowns” to Gutfeld mocking Hollywood, they tap into the daily outrage cycle better than anyone.

Loyal Audience: Fox’s viewers don’t channel surf. They lock in and stay put. When CNN and MSNBC audiences drift, Fox’s base becomes an immovable wall of ratings.

Programming Ecosystem: Morning (Fox & Friends), midday (Outnumbered), afternoon (The Five), primetime (Watters, Hannity, Ingraham), late-night (Gutfeld!) — Fox owns the clock.

In short: Fox has built a fortress. Everyone else is throwing pebbles at the gates.

Toxic Take: The Industry Is Broken

Here’s the ugly truth nobody in polite media wants to say: cable news isn’t a battlefield anymore. It’s a graveyard where Fox is the only living giant stomping over corpses.

CNN has been reduced to a national punchline, MSNBC is a one-woman show, and the “challengers” like Newsmax and NewsNation are barely relevant outside of niche conservative chatter.

Love or hate Fox, you can’t deny it: they are cable news. Everyone else is a supporting act.

The Bottom Line

The Q2 2025 ratings didn’t just crown Fox the king — they proved there isn’t even a real throne for anyone else. With 14 out of 15 top shows, Fox isn’t competing anymore. They’re running a monopoly.

Jesse Watters holding both the #1 and #2 slots is just the cherry on top of this ratings massacre. Maddow may still carry MSNBC on Mondays, but one anchor can’t carry a network forever. CNN, meanwhile, is staring into the abyss, where its “top shows” don’t even come close to Fox’s weakest link.

For Q2, the story is simple: Fox News owns primetime, daytime, and everything in between. They’re not just winning. They’re humiliating everyone else.

And unless something seismic changes, Q3 might not even be a contest worth watching.