Fox News Channel finished as the most-watched basic cable network for the 40th straight week.

Fox News averaged 1.5 million total day viewers from Oct. 3-9, topping even ESPN’s average audience of one million. No other networks cracked the one-million viewer benchmark as MSNBC averaged 746,000 to finish third. 

Fox News averaged 2.3 million viewers during the primetime hours of 8-11 p.m. ET, finishing as the most-watched cable news network and No. 2 in all of basic cable behind only ESPN. 

The Five TV Ratings

"The Five" averaged 3.4 million viewers to finish as the most-watched cable news program of the week. (FOX)

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It was the 86th consecutive week that Fox News topped both MSNBC and CNN among both total day and primetime viewership. Along the way, Fox News aired 87 of the top 100 cable news telecasts last week. 

"The Five" averaged 3.4 million viewers to finish as the most-watched cable news program of the week, while "Tucker Carlson Tonight" averaged 450,000 viewers among the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults age 25-54 to finish atop the critical category. 

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Tony Bobulinski sat down with Tucker Carlson for an exclusive interview that aired last week on "Tucker Carlson Tonight." (FOX)

"FOX & Friends" continued its dominance, averaging 1.4 million viewers compared to only 403,000 for CNN’s soon-to-be canceled "New Day" and 890,000 for MSNBC’s "Morning Joe." It was the 81st straight week that "FOX & Friends" topped the CNN and MSNBC morning offerings. 

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"Gutfeld!" averaged 2.2 million viewers to outdraw ABC’s "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and NBC’s "The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon." 

FOX & Friends

"FOX & Friends" has topped CNN and MSNBC morning offerings for 81 straight weeks. (Fox News)

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Fox News’ entire daytime lineup finished with a larger audience than "NBC News Daily," a recently launched attempt at daytime news by the Peacock Network. "Outnumbered," "America’s Newsroom," "The Faulkner Focus," "America Reports" and "The Story" all finished the week with more viewers than the 1.1 million that "NBC News Daily" managed. 

"Cavuto Live" averaged 1.3 million to finish as the most-watched cable news program on Saturday, while "Life, Liberty & Levin" averaged 1.6 million for the Sunday crown. 

All data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.

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