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Fox News To Promote ‘Gutfeld!’ As ‘New King of Late Night’ In Super Bowl Ad

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Fox News will utilize some of the most expensive advertising time this year to promote Greg Gutfeld’s late-night show — during the Super Bowl on Sunday.

During the most-watched event of the year, the network will promote Gutfeld as the “new king of late-night” after his show quickly climbed in the ratings compared to standard late-night fare featuring Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, and others.

According to Mediaite: “The ad features Gutfeld donning a cape, crown, and scepter as he makes his way through a commercial set to a throne. Gutfeld’s own dog is featured in the ad — a french bulldog named Gus — sitting honorably beside the throne in a matching outfit. Other cast members from the show are in the commercial as well, including Kat Timpf and Tyrus. Gutfeld!, which is currently in its fourth season, has quickly come to dominate ratings in the 11 p.m. timeslot. Although the show benefits from an earlier start than other late-night shows which start at 11:30, Gutfeld scored 2022 victories over Fallon and Kimmel — drawing an audience of 2.04 million average nightly viewers. He even topped Colbert over the last five months of the year, suggesting that a 2023 full-year victory over all three network late-night rivals is very much within his grasp.”

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The Hollywood Reporter noted that Fox News will also run a 20-second version of the same ad on its own network during the NFL championship game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Gutfeld! averaged 2.1 million viewers through 2022, Nielsen Media Research showed, the Washington Times reported.

“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.

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“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.

But Gutfeld has been a ratings champion for Fox News with “The Five,” a show he cohosts, as the top show in cable news, Nielsen said. In January, the comedian and political analyst managed to win two of the top three shows in cable news in the key 25-54 age demographic.

The Five, of which Gutfeld is a permanent co-host, topped the charts in the demo with 448,000 demo viewers, Mediate reported. Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson landed in second place with 407,000 demo viewers, while Gutfeld! came in third with 379,000.

The show became 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.

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“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).”

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