What are Nielsen’s most recent weekly primetime ratings for Fox News, Newsmax and OANN?

1. Fox News — the clear leader in Nielsen’s weekly snapshot

Nielsen-derived aggregations for the week ending Jan. 4, 2026 place Fox News Channel’s average primetime audience at roughly 1,515,000 viewers, a figure reported in network-level summaries of weekly ratings data ^[1]. That weekly snapshot aligns with broader reporting that Fox dominated cable primetime across 2025 — Adweek and Fox’s own press materials cite multi‑million average primetime audiences for the 2025 calendar year under Nielsen’s new “big data + panel” methodology ^{[4] [5]}. Those yearly averages (about 2.65–2.72 million in primetime for 2025) are higher than the specific weekly snapshot cited above, underscoring week-to-week volatility and differences between short-window weekly averages and calendar-year aggregations ^{[4] [6]}.

2. Newsmax — small audience by Nielsen weekly measures

Aggregated weekly data for the same early‑January window indicate Newsmax’s primetime weekly average is on the order of the low‑hundreds of thousands — USTVDB’s compilation of Nielsen data lists Newsmax at approximately 156,000 viewers in primetime for the period ending Jan. 4, 2026 ^[2]. Other outlets and secondary trackers sometimes show slightly different short‑term figures (some snapshots cited in commentary range higher or lower), but the USTVDB figure is the direct aggregation tied to the Nielsen weekly window referenced in the search results ^{[2] [7]}.

3. OANN — no Nielsen weekly primetime figure publicly available

One America News Network is explicitly identified in contemporary reporting as not being measured in Nielsen’s standard public cable-news rankings, meaning there is no Nielsen weekly primetime average to report in the same way as for Fox or Newsmax (a Reuters story notes OANN is not rated by Nielsen) ^[3]. Because the question asks for “Nielsen’s most recent weekly primetime ratings,” the absence of Nielsen coverage for OANN means the proper, sourced answer is that Nielsen does not publish a comparable weekly primetime rating for OANN ^[3]. If third‑party or proprietary measurement of OANN exists, it is not part of Nielsen’s publicly cited weekly cable rankings available in the provided reporting.

4. Methodology, time windows and why numbers vary

Nielsen’s reported figures depend strongly on the time window (daily/weekly/yearly), the metric (total viewers vs. advertiser demos, e.g., Adults 25–54), and recent methodological changes — outlets have noted Nielsen’s “big data + panel” hybrid was implemented and shifted year‑to‑year comparability ^{[8] [4]}. Weekly snapshots — like the Jan. 4, 2026 window used by USTVDB — will therefore differ from calendar‑year averages that aggregate many weeks and may include special events that spike audiences ^{[8] [6]}. Where available, both the short‑window weekly figures and annual averages were cited above to give a fuller sense of scale ^{[1] [4] [6]}.

5. Caveats, alternative viewpoints and the limits of available reporting

The available sources include Nielsen‑derived summaries, trade reporting and third‑party aggregators that compile Nielsen outputs; they sometimes report slightly different numbers depending on the specific averaging window or whether they cite total viewers or demo viewers, and Fox News’ own press materials emphasize strong annual results — a party‑interested framing that must be balanced against independent trade coverage ^{[5] [4] [6]}. The direct weekly numbers cited above come from aggregated weekly data tied to the Jan. 4, 2026 window (Fox ~1.515M; Newsmax ~156K), while OANN lacks a Nielsen weekly figure in the sources provided ^{[1] [2] [3]}. If more recent Nielsen weekly releases exist beyond the windows cited here, they were not present in the supplied reporting and therefore are not reflected in this analysis ^[8].