Fox News suffered a sharp fall in prime-time viewership in the weeks before the US midterm elections, with Nielsen reporting a 28% decline to an average of 2 million viewers from September 28 to October 25, the company said.
On a call with analysts to discuss quarterly results, CEO Lachlan Murdoch attributed the fall to what he called viewer fatigue, drawing a parallel to audience patterns seen during the 2006 midterms in a president’s second term.
"Those viewers are not going to any other channel."
Murdoch said the decline was not a mass migration to rival channels, and argued many regular viewers were simply cutting back on television watching rather than switching providers or platforms.
The network remains the most-watched on cable, and the company said it expects daily audience averages for this midterm season to be higher than in any other midterm year back to 1998, despite the recent drop.
Nielsen data showed some gains for competitors over the same period: Versant Media Group’s MS NOW rose 15% to 1.16 million viewers, while Skydance’s CNN averaged 644,000 viewers, up 16%.
Some media analysts point to President Donald Trump’s slipping approval ratings and a general decline in engagement among his base as a factor in Fox’s lower numbers. Polls and prediction markets currently favour Democrats in control of both the House and the Senate, and voters are weighing issues such as affordability, the war in Iran and tariffs.
Fox Corp reported fiscal first-quarter revenue of $US4.57 billion, beating Wall Street estimates of $US4.31 billion, and adjusted EBITDA of $US1.64 billion, ahead of forecasts of $US1.37 billion.
Advertising revenue rose sharply, jumping 47% to $US2.08 billion, which the company attributed in large part to broadcasting the men’s FIFA World Cup over the summer.
Political advertising was a bright spot ahead of the midterms, with the network reporting a record haul of more than $US350 million: $US250 million on local stations, $US50 million on its Tubi streaming platform and $US50 million for national buys.
Murdoch confirmed Fox is considering bids for US media rights to the 2030 and 2034 World Cups, saying the company was pleased with how the tournament performed for the network and would approach future rights purchases in a disciplined way. Industry estimates put those rights potential cost at up to $US4 billion, reflecting the high stakes in sports broadcasting.
The figures show that, while prime-time ratings have weakened in a volatile political season, Fox remains commercially strong through diversified revenue streams including broadcast sports, streaming and substantial political ad spend, which advertisers have continued to commit to in the run-up to the midterms.
