Fox keeps its grip on prime time while CNN finds a regional bright spot
Fox News continues to set the pace in the evening lineup, with The Five again topping Thursday’s national charts on August 14 across total viewers and the key Adults 25–54 demo—the slice buyers use to price ads. For a show that airs earlier than traditional prime time on the East Coast, its staying power speaks to a simple truth: familiar faces, fast-paced panel talk, and consistent tone still pull in viewers even as habits shift. For this night, the headline is the same as most weeks: Fox led the national board. The wrinkle is regional—CNN’s Kaitlan Collins finished first in Alaska, a rare and notable outlier that hints at how viewing patterns change once you step outside the lower 48.
Why does that matter? Because in a fragmented TV world, small wins add up. Sponsors hunt for engaged audiences wherever they pop, and programmers pay attention to places where schedules, time zones, and local routines tilt the playing field. National wins keep the revenue engine running; regional wins point to future growth. Thursday offered both: Fox got the broad victory it’s built to deliver, and CNN saw a pocket of momentum that’s worth watching.
The Five’s formula is well-worn and effective. It blends news-of-day clips, pointed commentary, and predictable chemistry from a rotating cast. It also benefits from being a bridge show—early enough to catch people wrapping work on the East Coast and late enough to play as early evening in the Mountain and Pacific time zones. That wide window, plus a loyal audience that tends to watch live, helps it top both total viewers and Adults 25–54, the demographic that agencies use as a common yardstick. When a single hour leads in both volume and ad-friendly viewers, it’s not just a win—it’s pricing power.
CNN’s bright spot came from Kaitlan Collins, whose nightly program has leaned into accountability interviews, sharp quick-turn reporting, and a less performative tone than the louder corners of cable. On Thursday, her show placed first in Alaska. That might sound like a niche detail, but it lines up with how scheduling works. In Alaska, East Coast shows air much earlier. A 9 p.m. ET hour lands around 5 p.m. local. That puts Collins in front of viewers commuting home, making dinner, or flipping on TV earlier than they would for a late-night slot. Meanwhile, an East Coast 5 p.m. program like The Five rolls out around lunchtime in Alaska—a tougher slot to dominate live.
This is the core quirk of national cable: time zones matter, and so does local rhythm. A show can be a juggernaut nationwide and still cede a state to a competitor simply because the clock—and daily life—line up differently. It also underscores why networks obsess over lead-ins and hour-by-hour flow. If your audience spikes at 5 p.m. local, you want a program that can hold them or hand them off cleanly to the next hour.
The bigger picture hasn’t changed. Fox News remains the most-watched cable news network in the evening, anchored by a lineup that blends panel shows and opinion-driven hours. Its audience is sticky, its brand is clear, and nights like Thursday only reinforce that position. MSNBC, for its part, continues to focus on viewers who prefer deep dives and progressive analysis, carving out reliable pockets most weeknights. CNN is trying to widen its lane—more original reporting, more live interviews, less theater—looking for places, like Alaska this week, where that bet pays off.
Advertisers care about the Adults 25–54 metric because it’s the one they’ve priced against for decades. It’s not perfect, but it’s the currency. Win the demo and you can argue for higher rates, even if you’re not No. 1 in total viewers. That’s why Thursday’s board matters. The Five took both crowns, making the sell easier for Fox’s ad team. CNN’s Alaska win won’t move national pricing on its own, but it’s ammo for conversations with regional buyers and a signal that the show’s format can pop in the right conditions.
Thursday’s ratings also track with a broader pattern: evening cable remains a battle of habit versus novelty. Habit favors long-running shows with familiar hosts and a predictable cadence. Novelty favors programs that can deliver a must-see interview or a strong news hook that breaks through social feeds and into living rooms. Networks know this and program accordingly—panel at the top of the evening to pull people in, higher-stakes interviews in the later hours to chase share when viewers start to graze.
All of this is happening as linear TV navigates more cord-cutting and more competition from streaming. Yet the nightly scoreboard still matters. Cable news is live, topical, and relatively cheap to produce compared with scripted entertainment, which makes it a crucial pillar for distributors and a dependable reach vehicle for advertisers. A night where one network leads nationally and a rival claims a state highlights how the ecosystem actually functions—messy, regional, and decided hour by hour.
If you look under the hood of nights like this, a few takeaways keep showing up:
- Time zones change outcomes. A show’s “prime” on the East Coast isn’t the same on the West Coast or in Alaska.
- Lead-ins matter. Strong carryover from one hour can lift the next, especially for live viewers.
- Demo wins pay the bills. Adults 25–54 remains the buying currency, even as total viewer bragging rights get the headlines.
- Format fit counts. Panel-driven conversation tends to hold across broad audiences; interview-led hours can spike when the guest or topic catches fire.
For Thursday, August 14, the scoreboard is clear: Fox News stayed out in front, with The Five topping both total viewers and the core demo nationwide. CNN found a notable win in Alaska with Kaitlan Collins, a reminder that audience behavior shifts with the clock and the local routine. As networks adjust lineups and refine tone heading into a busy news calendar, expect more nights like this—where a national leader keeps its edge while regional pockets tell a different story.
The business side will track the same metrics tomorrow and the next day. If Collins keeps stacking regional wins—or converts them into broader gains—you’ll see CNN lean harder into that format and time-slot strategy. If The Five keeps sweeping both totals and the demo, it stays not just a flagship, but a playbook for how to build a program that travels across markets and time zones. That’s the real lesson from Thursday’s cable news ratings: consistency wins nationally; timing wins locally.
Why Alaska broke from the pack
Alaska’s viewing habits aren’t exotic—they’re just offset. Working hours, commute times, and earlier sunsets in parts of the year shift when people are most likely to watch live TV. A 5 p.m. local hour can be a sweet spot for catching people as they walk in the door, which helped CNN’s 9 p.m. ET hour land well on Thursday. Meanwhile, midday shows that dominate nationally can look softer in places where lunch hours don’t lend themselves to live viewing.
There’s also the content fit. Collins’s show is built to capitalize on newsy nights—quick turnarounds, tough interviews, and a steady tone that doesn’t require a full hour of attention. That works when viewers are in and out. In contrast, a panel show like The Five rewards consistency and routine, which is why it wins the long race even if it occasionally yields a state to a rival. Different formats for different moments, and Thursday put that on display.
