OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Tucker Carlson’s primetime show on Fox News has smashed another key barrier. AdWeek published the viewership results for cable news shows this week and Carlson remained at number one on Tuesday night.
In the 8 p.m. ET time slot, “Tucker Carlson Tonight” brought in a whopping 3.009 million total viewers. In the same time slot, CNN’s Anderson Cooper had 730,000 and MSNBC’s Chris Hayes at 1.304 million total viewers.
The hit show “The Five” on Fox News came in a close second place in the cable news ratings, bringing in 3.087 million total viewers. CNN’s Jake Tapper had a measly 665,000 total viewers in the same slot.
Fox News dominated in the January cable news ratings as well, drawing more viewers, on average, than both CNN and MSNBC combined. Jesse Watters was part of two shows — The Five and “Jesse Watters Primetime” — that were in the top 5 for viewership in January.
“Fox News still led in total day viewers, averaging 1.35 million viewers, which was down 4% from the same month a year earlier. MSNBC averaged 703,000, up 7%, while CNN posted 524,000, up 7%. In the 25-54 demo, Fox News averaged 173,000, down 23%, while CNN was up 7% with 107,000 and MSNBC rose 5% to 78,000,” Deadline reported.
The outlet added:
The Five was the top show in total viewers, averaging 3.38 million, followed by Tucker Carlson Tonight with 3.19 million, Jesse Watters Primetime with 2.84 million, Hannity with 2.57 million, and Special Report with Bret Baier at 2.42 million.
In the 25-54 demo, Tucker Carlson Tonight averaged 448,000, followed by The Five with 379,000, Jesse Watters Primetime with 319,000, Hannity with 307,000, and Gutfeld! at 301,000.
Fox News averaged 1.95 million viewers, down 13%, while MSNBC posted 1.05 million, down 9%, and CNN was at 629,000, down 1%. In the 25-54 demo, CNN averaged 144,000, which was up 3%. That still trailed Fox News, which averaged 239,000, down 29%. MSNBC posted 109,000, down 16%.
Fox News has previously gotten fantastic news about The Five.
The show has become the most watched show in cable news, averaging a total audience of 3.332 million viewers for the week that ended January 22nd, Nielsen ratings showed, Forbes reported.
“After The Five, the highest-rated shows of the week were Tucker Carlson Tonight (3.086 million viewers), Jesse Watters Primetime (2.647 million viewers), Hannity (2.386 million viewers), and Special Report with Bret Baier (2.367 million viewers)—all airing on the Fox News Channel,” the report said.
Forbes reported: “In prime time, Fox News led the cable news networks with an average total audience of 1.996 million viewers—beating CNN and MSNBC combined. Overall, Fox had fully 92 of the 100 highest-rated cable news telecasts for the week. Among viewers 25-54, the demographic group most valued by advertisers, Tucker Carlson Tonight was first with 442,000 viewers, followed by The Five (374,000 viewers), Hannity (303,000 viewers), Jesse Watters Primetime (266,000 viewers) and Special Report with Bret Baier (256,000 viewers).”
And its morning show, “Fox & Friends,” crushed its competitors as well with a total audience of 1.260 million viewers as the MSNBC show “Morning Joe” averaged 760,000 viewers, and “CNN This Morning” had its worst week with 331,000 viewers.
Watters, who is a co-host on “The Five” and now has his own show on the network, has also been performing well at the network.
Waters, who took over as the permanent host of the 7 PM EST weekday time slot on Fox News, recently spoke about his new show and gave an idea of what he envisions for the program long-term.
He said that it would be “an entertaining hour with news and politics and culture, crime, tabloid — everything.”
“We’re also going to be debuting something,” he said. “You know how my mom’s always texting me? We didn’t think that was fair for just my mom to be able to text me, so we’re going to be putting out a number where the whole country can text me. We’re going to have an open line of communication with the country, so I’ll be listening to them.”
