Iran War Leads to Massive Ratings Jolt for Three Major Cable News Networks

The Iran War may not be good for gas prices, but it’s certainly helped boost cable news ratings.

Fox News, MS NOW and CNN all enjoyed big ratings increases in March — as well as during the first quarter of the year — as viewers looked for news and analysis on Operation Epic Fury and what President Donald Trump will do next, according to Nielsen data obtained by Mediaite on Wednesday.

Fox News led the pack as usual, averaging 3 million viewers in primetime Monday-Sunday and 323,000 in the advertiser-coveted adults 25-54 demo — up 15% and 24% month-over-month in both categories, respectively.

CNN and MS NOW each enjoyed more than a 10% surge in primetime as well — with CNN pulling in 898,000 primetime viewers (up 11%) and 175,000 in the demo (up 14%), while MS NOW notched 1.26 million primetime viewers (up 11%); MS NOW’s demo viewers slipped slightly from last month to 130,000 (down 1%).

Here is how the three stacked up in terms of full-day viewership for March:

CNN: 641,000 total viewers (up 13%), 111,000 in 25-54 demo (up 19%)

MS NOW: 759,000 total viewers (up 7%), 81,000 in the demo (up 3%)

Fox News: 1.90 million total viewers (up 11%), 198,000 in the demo (up 18%)

For MS NOW, it was the channel’s most-watched month since October 2024, which came on the eve of the Trump v. Kamala Harris election — a major feather in the cap of new president Rebecca Kutler as she passes the one-year mark at the helm of the recently rebranded network.

CNN similarly had its best full-day viewership since March 2022 — right after the Russia-Ukraine War started – and its best primetime month since August 2024.

Fox held bragging rights when it came to the top-rated shows, with The Five grabbing the gold with a staggering 4.1 million viewers (381,000 in the demo) in March. Jesse Watters won the demo for the month by averaging 387,00 viewers between 25-54, and his show pulled in 3.72 million viewers overall on a nightly basis. The Five’s ratings were up 2% compared to February, while Jesse Watters Primetime was up 8% from the month before.

Sean Hannity’s program was up 9% to 3.12 million viewers, Laura Ingraham’s show was up 5% to 3.05 million viewers, and Greg Gutfeld’s late-night show was up about 5% to 3.18 million nightly viewers.

But there was plenty of good news throughout the primetime landscape. Here’s a look at some of the highlights from MS NOW and CNN:

Anderson Cooper 360: 963K, up 6% month-over-month

The Lead with Jake Tapper: 856K, up 2.5%

The Source with Kaitlan Collins: 927K, up 6.4%

The Rachel Maddow Show: 2.42 million, up 1.7%

All In with Chris Hayes: 1.33 million, up 4%

The Briefing With Jen Psaki: 1.37 million, up 5.4%

The first quarter also just wrapped up, so it’s worth looking at how all three channels performed between January and March and how it compares to Q1 2025. It was a good quarter for all of them.

Q1 Ratings

Daily Viewership: 

CNN: 577,000 total viewers (up 42% from 2025), 101,000 in 25-54 demo (up 66%)

MS NOW: 691,000 (up 23%), 72,000 in demo (up 47%)

Fox News: 1.71 million (up 23%), 172,000 in demo (up 37%)

Primetime: 

CNN: 797K total viewers (up 54%), 156K in demo (up 88%)

MS NOW: 1.11 million (up 25%), 114,000 in demo (up 46%)

Fox News: 2.59 million (up 25%), 265,000 in demo (up 39%)

It’ll be worth seeing if that momentum continues in April, with President Donald Trump reportedly set to tell Americans the war is winding down during his televised address on Wednesday night.

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