OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Fox News host Greg Gutfeld continues to smash cable news ratings. Whether it’s “The Five” or his late-night comedy show on the network, both programs are dominating the competition.
A new Mediaite report found that “The Five” delivered a whopping 3.2 million viewers on Wednesday in the 5 PM ET time slot. For comparison, CNN’s Jake Tapper brought in a measly 790,000 viewers, and News Nation “Rush Hour” had 217,000.
In March, the late-night show “Gutfeld!” averaged nearly 2 million total viewers, making it the number one show in the timeslot.
Nielsen Media Research showed that Gutfeld! averaged 2.1 million viewers through 2022.
“The size of that viewing audience bests both NBC’s ‘The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon’ and ABC’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ and also consistently trumps such cable rivals as Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show’ and HBO’s ‘Last Week Tonight’ and ‘Real Time With Bill Maher,’” the report said.
Vox, known to be more of a liberal news organization, opined that “The biggest comedy show on late-night right now is not on ABC or NBC or CBS or Fox. It’s not on Comedy Central. It’s certainly not streaming. It’s on Fox News, and its name is ‘Gutfeld!’”
CNN is reportedly working on its own late-night show to compete with Gutfeld, examining more progressive candidates for the job.
“Brass at the famously progressive news network have reportedly floated names such as Bill Maher, Trevor Noah, Arsenio Hall, and Jon Stewart, as candidates, to offer a nontraditional, late-night-esque take on the day’s news. Fox News has found success with ‘Gutfeld!,’ the late-night comedy show hosted by Greg Gutfeld,” the Daily Mail said.
Fox News recently announced that it finished the first quarter of 2024 as the top network in all of cable news.
Below is some of the topline results from the report:
The Five” Finishes First Quarter as Most-Watched Program in Cable News, While “Tucker Carlson Tonight” Marks Highest 25-54 Demo for Quarter and Most-Watched Cable News Program in March
FNC’s Audience Share Increases to Over 52% of Cable News Audience
FNC Continues to Garner Cable News’ Most Politically Diverse Audience with More Democrats and Independents Tuning into FNC Than CNN and MSNBC
FNC Notches 98 of the Top 100 Telecasts in Cable News for the Quarter
CNN Posts its Worst Quarter with Primetime A25-54 Since 1991
The press release stated: “At 5 PM/ET, FNC’s powerhouse The Five continued to shatter records by becoming the first non-primetime program to top all of cable news for six consecutive quarters in cable news history. Averaging 3.3 million viewers and 357,000 in A25-54, the show also outpaced every show on CNN and MSNBC across the board. Additionally, The Five and Tucker Carlson Tonight beat ABC’s The Bachelor in total viewers. Special Report with Bret Baier (weeknights, 6 PM/ET) averaged 2.3 million viewers and 262,000 in A25-54, dominating its timeslot. At 7 PM/ET, FNC’s Jesse Watters Primetime finished the quarter as the third highest-rated cable news program, averaging 2.8 million viewers and 304,000 in A25-54. At 12 AM/ET, FOX News @ Night surpassed the competition, delivering 1 million viewers and 166,000 in A25-54.”
It added: “At 11 PM/ET, Gutfeld! continued to outpace a number of the late-night broadcast competition for the quarter, securing over 1.9 million viewers and 301,000 with A25-54. As host Greg Gutfeld nears his second year in late night television (April 5th), his eponymous program continues to defeat ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! (1.5 million P2+) and NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (1.4 million P2+) with viewers. Year over year, CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was down 18% with A25-54, marking the biggest decrease in late night television.”
Kayleigh McEnany and Fox News’s “Outnumbered” co-hosts continue to outperform their daytime cable news competition, drawing more viewers than CNN and MSNBC combined.
Outnumbered drew 1.59 million total viewers on Tuesday in comparison to CNN’s 625,000 and MSNBC’s 579,000 total viewers for the noon time slot, according to the most recent rating report.
McEnany, a current Fox News host who served as the White House press secretary for former President Donald Trump, delivered a reassuring message for her fans last week.
