For the first time, Fox News Digital became the top U.S. news brand in the third quarter of 2025 with over 94 million unique visitors, according to new Comscore data. The milestone extends its dominance in key engagement metrics and comes as rival CNN saw its own digital audience collapse.
A digital drubbing: While Fox celebrated its win, the report painted a grim picture for CNN, whose multiplatform minutes plunged by 54% year-over-year, while views fell by 44%. In contrast, Fox's multiplatform minutes climbed 10% to over 11 billion, continuing its leadership streak for the 18th consecutive quarter, as reported by outlets like Advanced Television.
The social engine: The platform's success is driven by a potent video and social media strategy. Fox racked up 1.1 billion YouTube views and hit a new peak with over 500 million social media interactions, according to Emplifi data. Its TikTok presence was particularly explosive, with engagements growing 75% from the prior quarter to hit more than 2 billion.
A methodological asterisk: The performance left legacy broadcast networks like NBC News, CBS News, and ABC News trailing in its wake. But the numbers come with a methodological asterisk: Comscore allows publishers to opt-in to account for "Social Incremental" traffic in their unique visitor counts. Fox News and most of its broadcast rivals use this feature, while competitors like CNN.com and NYTimes.com do not.
Fox's aggressive multi-platform and social-first strategy is setting the pace in the digital news race, leaving competitors who are slower to adapt struggling to maintain their footing.
Meanwhile, CNN is touting its own recent television audience growth, creating a counter-narrative focused on its broadcast performance. Elsewhere, Fox News executives took to social media to celebrate the digital milestone.
