Fox News’s Facebook page just had a huge Q2 on Facebook. Astonishingly, it’s the best quarter the publisher’s main page has had on Facebook since before 2018, and builds on the Q1 success it enjoyed.
While many publishers are struggling to hold attention, Fox is still pulling in massive engagement on a platform that’s often overlooked in favor of the shiny new toys of TikTok and Instagram.
By looking at the 1,000 top-performing posts from the quarter, we can get a clear picture of what actually works on Facebook for Fox News right now in terms of format, theme, and length.
Here’s what stood out.
What the Most Popular Posts Were About
Politics powers volume, but not the peaks.
US-Politics posts fill more than half the leaderboard, yet it wasn’t the driving force behind the very top posts. Smaller, emotion-heavy niches (celebrity tributes, market shocks) occasionally out-punch the political workhorses.
Human-interest posts quietly deliver.
Nearly one-quarter of all engagement went to softer stories: soldier-homecomings, inspirational rescues, patriotic slideshows. These almost always ride photo formats and captions with 40 words or under; easy shares that rack up “Love” reactions.
Culture-war stories create debate, not mass reach.
Supreme-Court and border-security posts ranked fourth in volume, but their share of total engagement (6%) lags their share of post numbers (7%). They drive comments but fewer shares, potentially capping overall interaction totals.
What Formats Got the Most Engagement on Facebook
When it comes to format, native video dominated among the top 1,000 posts in Q2, but photos averaged higher engagement:
Native Video: 460 posts | Avg. engagement: ~108K
Photo: 304 posts | Avg. engagement: ~140K
Live Video: 109 posts | Avg. engagement: ~117K
Link: 99 posts | Avg. engagement: ~66K
Other: 28 posts | Avg. engagement: ~86K
Photos were not the most common format, but they delivered the highest average and median engagement. These posts typically featured striking images and short captions, and captions were most frequently fewer than 40 words, with the visual and the headlines doing most of the work.
Native videos were the most frequent format in the top 1,000. While their average performance trailed behind photos in terms of breaking into the top 20 (where 16 of the top 20 were photo posts), they performed consistently well and had a higher baseline but lower ceiling than photo posts.
Live videos came in third by volume but performed well when tied to political events or major breaking news. Link posts, by contrast, underperformed on both average and median metrics.
How Long Videos Should Be on Facebook
If you’re going to post a video following the Fox News model, you should look keep it short, but not too short!
Among the top 1,000 posts for Fox News:
- Videos under 30 seconds had a median of 82,396 interactions
- 30–60 second clips did even better, with 85,683 median interactions
- Videos between 60–120 seconds dropped to 72,815
- Anything over 2 minutes saw a big dip, with just 60,354 median interactions
So even among the best content, shorter videos consistently performed better. While there were some longer videos that did very well, they were the exception rather than the rule.
What Publishers Can Learn from Fox’s Success
A few key takeaways for publishers looking to learn from Fox’s success:
- Stick with strong, emotional themes—especially ones that spark “Love” reactions
- Use photos often; they’re reliable performers
- Keep video clips short (ideally under a minute)
- Only label posts as “LIVE” or “BREAKING” when it actually adds urgency
For more on how publishers drove success, head over to our report.
