Watch: Hannity Cries on Air Celebrating Fox News 30th as Network Scores Biggest Ratings Win in History
Longtime Fox News host Sean Hannity grew emotional Wednesday evening as he celebrated the conservative-leaning news network’s 30th anniversary on air.
“At the Fox News Channel, we have officially been on the air for 30 years,” Hannity announced on flagship network program “Hannity.”
“I have been here since day one. It has been an honor and a privilege that all of you, our loyal viewers, welcome us into your homes each night.”
“This network has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams, beyond measure, over the past three decades,” he continued. “And to be honest, I’m very grateful to all of you. Even at the risk of embarrassment, here are some highlights.”
He then proceeded to play clips depicting him across his lengthy career at the network:
Sean Hannity gets emotional reflecting on three decades at Fox News Channel, thanking viewers as the network celebrates its 30th anniversary.
“This network has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams…I’m very grateful to all of you,” Hannity says.
The longtime host, who has been with Fox News since its first day on the air, revisits some of the biggest interviews, guests and defining events from his career.
@seanhannity
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 8, 2026
According to numbers posted by Axios, Fox News continues to dominate the ratings, crushing competitor establishment media networks like MS NOW and CNN.
“Its ratings lead over rivals has never been wider,” Axios bluntly reported.
The numbers showed that in 2026 up through Sept. 29, the network averaged 1.5 million viewers per day, whereas MS NOW averaged less than 650,000 viewers and CNN averaged around 500,000 viewers.
The data further showed that Fox News has been dominating MS NOW — formerly MSNBC — and CNN since the early 2000s. Only prior to the 2000s, in the late 1990s, did MS NOW and CNN appear to be in the lead.
Outspoken conservative sports and news commentator Clay Travis noted in a post published to the social media site X that Fox News’ success is “one of the greatest media business successes — maybe the greatest — of all time.”
Fox News is 30 years old today and presently has a bigger ratings lead over CNN and MSNBC than at any time in its history. It’s one of the greatest media business successes — maybe the greatest — of all time. https://t.co/4VCwCNw0Lr
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 7, 2026
Fox News president and executive editor Jay Wallace told Axios that the network’s ratings took off after the Sept. 11 terror attack: “9/11 really sort of set us on our course,” he said.
According to Wallace, another turning point occurred in 2015, when the network hosted the first Republican presidential debate of the cycle.
The debate famously featured now-President Donald Trump.
The debate “changed the course of television news and television,” Wallace insisted, adding that “we’re still seeing the effects.”
Evidence of the network’s success was also shown by the apoplectic anger that its 30-year anniversary prompted from the radicalized far-left.
Over at Daily Kos, a radically progressive network that’s openly pro-communist and pro-Hamas, contributor Oliver Willis mocked the network for celebrating “30 years of lies, racism, and smears.”
“Voters have frequently tuned out Fox’s bigotry, smears, and right-wing fever dreams, and they are not to be underestimated,” Willis wrote. “For the good of the country and history, Fox News can — and will — lose.”
The network’s ratings strongly suggested otherwise.
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