Has the average age of Fox News viewers changed since 2016 2020 2024?

1. What the question really asks and how the sources can answer it

The user seeks whether the "average age" of Fox News viewers changed across three benchmark years — 2016, 2020 and 2024 — which requires consistent median/mean measures from those years; the supplied reporting contains concrete median estimates for 2016 and 2017 and trade‑press commentary for later years, but does not provide a continuous, standardized series for 2016→2020→2024 that would allow a definitive statistical trendline ^{[1] [2] [4]}.

2. What the 2016 baseline looks like in the reporting

Industry summaries and Nielsen‑based commentary routinely cited a median age in the mid‑60s for Fox News around 2016 — for example, a 2019 retrospective and contemporary summaries referenced a Nielsen median of about 66 in 2016 — establishing a clear starting point that Fox’s audience skewed substantially older than the U.S. adult population ^{[1] [2]}.

3. Evidence for change around 2017 and the immediate aftermath

Adweek and trade reporting noted a slight "youthful surge" in 2017, with median ages for Fox News ticking down roughly one year (from 66 to about 65), indicating small year‑to‑year fluctuation rather than a dramatic demographic overhaul; that same reporting shows other cable outlets have similarly old median audiences, so change at Fox was within a wider ecosystem trend ^{[2] [1]}.

4. The 2020–2024 window: sparse, noisy, and methodologically complicated

Direct, comparable median‑age figures for 2020 and 2024 are not supplied in the provided sources; what exists instead are trade articles and Nielsen‑derived ratings snapshots that note Fox’s total viewers rose in some years while its 25–54 demo (the key advertiser age band) sometimes declined, and Nielsen later changed rating methodology — a factor that clouds cross‑year median comparisons ^[4]. Wikipedia and other summaries continue to describe Fox as having an "aged demographic" through early 2024, but they report viewership totals rather than a clear median‑age series ^[5].

5. Claims of a much older median by 2024 and why to treat them cautiously

Some aggregated pieces and independent posts claim the median cable‑news viewer reached about 70 in recent years, and one Medium post explicitly suggested a ~70 median for cable news in 2024, but these are secondary analyses or aggregations rather than primary Nielsen releases, and the supplied trade reporting warns that methodology changes and differing measurement windows (Live+7 vs live day) can materially shift median estimates — therefore such claims require caution unless corroborated by primary rating releases ^{[3] [4]}.

6. Bottom line — what can responsibly be said from the supplied reporting

From the reporting provided: Fox News’s audience was clearly older in 2016 (median ~66) and showed only modest short‑term variation into 2017 (median ~65) rather than a sharp youth movement ^{[1] [2]}; for 2020 and 2024, the supplied sources do not present a consistent, directly comparable median‑age series, and later ratings reporting emphasizes total‑viewer gains or shifts in the 25–54 demo while noting Nielsen methodology changes that complicate trend comparisons ^{[4] [5]}. Consequently, the responsible conclusion is that Fox has remained an older‑skewing network across this period, with small year‑to‑year variation reported, but no definitive, source‑backed evidence in the provided material of a large, sustained change in the average/median age from 2016 through 2024 ^{[1] [2] [4]}.