Tube Trends: Eventful Q1 Fuels Cable News YouTube Views Increases

Apr 8

In March, Fox News hit nearly 600 million views on YouTube — the network’s largest total since at least mid-way through 2023, as it continued covering an eventful Q1 culminating in its wall-to-wall coverage of the war in Iran.

Data from Tubular Labs shows a 60.7% month-over-month increase in views for Fox News vs. February, from 372 million to nearly 598 million in March. The cable news giant’s previous high during Donald Trump’s second term as U.S. president was 532 million in June 2025.

Increasing Views During Q1

While March was Fox News’s high point in terms of monthly views, it’s also part of a larger trend for the network throughout Q1. Fox News’ January, February and March 2026 YouTube views are all among its highest figures since the start of 2024, and represent significant increases compared to the last two quarters of 2025.

Fox isn’t engaging in a volume play to drive the increase, either. The network’s 1,453 YouTube uploads in March 2026 were an increase compared to February, but was a lower total than every other month since mid-2025.

Tubular data highlights that these are not simply posts meant to farm engagement, either. Fox’s March 2026 engagement total (11.6 million) was similar to averages since mid-2024, though was slightly below its figure of 11.9 million as recently as January 2026.

In part, March’s surge in views comes courtesy of its ability to drive tune-in and watch-time on YouTube with lengthy videos.

Despite larger YouTube emphasis on short-form videos (Shorts, particularly), less than 25% of Fox News’ March uploads were under a minute long.

However, the network also published 34 different videos running over an hour long. Many of those covered live press conferences and testimonies that could bring viewers in at various points, without kicking them out to other videos for more context.

Impact Of Iran War

The Iran War wasn’t the only thing Fox News (or any news outlet) covered in March, but it did drive a significant share of views for the network on YouTube.

Over 58% of Fox News’ March YouTube uploads were directly about the Iran War, and 23 of the network’s 25 most-watched videos were as well. For the year so far, 29% of Fox News YouTube videos have covered Iran — implying that the vast majority of that coverage came in March.

Other major points of interest for Fox News coverage (on YouTube) so far this year have included I.C.E., the State of the Union and various stories around former Secretary of DSH Kristi Noem. At least in part due to Fox lacking the broadcast rights for the events, the network did not have many uploads about the Olympics or Super Bowl.

Comparison Points

Fox News was not the only cable news network to hit new highs in March, either.

Looking at the same timeframe since the start of 2024, Tubular data shows CNN also hit a high-water mark; 265 million views in March. It was a 25.8% increase for the network month-over-month, continuing its own strong performance in Q1 relative to the end of 2025.

CNN’s coverage has put an emphasis on the Iran War in March, even if not to the exact same extent, with 42% of CNN uploads were directly about Iran. Comparatively, though, most of those videos aren’t live coverage of events. Instead, they’re interviews or commentary about the conflict.

Along with Iran-related videos, CNN also put significant March emphasis on the Epstein files, which were some of the network’s most-watched YouTube videos for the month.

On MS Now, Q1 YouTube views have been up compared to the second half of 2025, but down about 25% vs. last spring.

In March, just over 50% of MS Now’s YouTube views were directly about the Iran War. But interestingly, many of the networks’ most-watched videos were more about Kristi Noem and upcoming congressional races. Rachel Maddow and other hosts’ commentary were a bigger part of the Iran War conversation for the network than live coverage.

MS Now also puts virtually no emphasis on Shorts. Just 4% of uploads in March were under one minute long. But by the same token, just 9% were over 20 minutes long — indicating the network leaned more heavily on mid-length videos.

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As tensions remain high around the Iran War, it’s probable these trends continue into April. Though as the conflict wears on, the nature of the coverage is also likely to change with it.