Cable News Ratings: ‘Ingraham Angle’ Has Best Month to Date, MSNBC Grows in Total Viewers
By Joe Otterson
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The Q2 2018 cable news ratings once again have Fox News on top, with “The Ingraham Angle” posting its best month ever in June.
“The Ingraham Angle” averaged 2.654 million viewers and 544,000 in the key adults 25-54 demo. That is the program’s highest-rated month since it launched back in October. The numbers came despite the fact that there were calls for another advertiser boycott of the program, this time over comments made by host Laura Ingraham regarding the separation of children and parents at the U.S. southern border.
“The Ingraham Angle” was also one of the top five cable news programs in both total viewers and the demo. The top five in both measures were, in order:
Total Viewers: “Hannity” (, 3.368 million), “The Rachel Maddow Show” (, 2.752 million), “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Fox News, 2.697 million), “The Ingraham Angle” (2.654 million), “The Five” (Fox News, 2.233 million)
Adults 25-54: “Hannity” (Fox News, 685,000), “The Rachel Maddow Show” (MSNBC, 559,000), “The Ingraham Angle” (Fox News, 544,000), “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (Fox News, 541,000), “Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” (MSNBC, 419,000)
“Hannity” also enjoyed its best month since returning to the 9 p.m. time slot in September, helping to carry Fox News to its 66th consecutive quarter as the most-watched cable news network.
In total day, Fox News was first with 1.409 million viewers and 286,000 in the demo. MSNBC was second in total viewers with 930,000 but third in the demo with 196,000. was third in total viewers with 658,000 but second in the demo with 202,000. Only MSNBC was up in total viewers compared to Q2 2017. In fact, almost every hour of MSNBC’s daytime programming grew in the demo.
In primetime, Fox was again number one with 2.447 million viewers and 480,000 in the demo. MSNBC was second with 1.736 million viewers and 346,000 in the demo. CNN was third with 929,000 viewers and 302,000 in the demo. MSNBC was again up in total viewers versus the same quarter last year. Fox News was up in both total viewers and the demo.
CNN had its third-best Q2 in 23 years in total day among total viewers and the demo, just after 2017 and 2003. The network also had its third-highest daytime performance in 23 years in both measures, also following 2017 and 2003.
