When Fox News announced that Greg Gutfeld would take on a late-night time slot during the week going head to head with the likes of Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel, those who have been following the funny, yet deceptively brilliant comedian expected him to do well, but few could have predicted just how successful he has been.
On Wednesday, for example, his program Gutfeld!, which airs at 11:00 p.m., beat every CNN and MSNBC program in total viewers and the key 25-54 age demographic, pulling in 2.17 million total viewers, according to Mediaite.
And while Gutfeld deserves the accolades, the results also speak to how dismal Fox News’ so-called competing networks are doing with their heavily slanted, left-wing postures. Across the board, in every time slot in both daytime and primetime coverage, Fox News ranked first in the key demo, smoking CNN and MSNBC.
The 2.17 million total viewers Gutfeld enjoyed on Wednesday was far and above what the other two networks were drawing, with the closest competitor being MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, which drew 1.47 million viewers.
“Gutfeld! pulled in 435,000 demo viewers, which topped Anderson Cooper’s 414,000 demo viewers at 9 p.m. – the biggest demo audience for a non-Fox show,” Mediaite reported. “While Cooper led CNN in the demo, Tucker Carlson’s 623,000 demo viewers landed in first place, both on Fox News and in all of cable news. The Rachel Maddow Show led that network in the demo, with 225,000 viewers.”
Even the Washington Post had to begrudgingly recognize Gutfeld’s dominance, as seen in this January report:
After years on “The Five,” an ensemble show he co-hosts, he’s become even a bigger part of the dominant news network’s success as the host of a late-night comedy program that debuted in April — “Gutfeld!” Defying predictions, “Gutfeld!” is regularly generating higher ratings than more established late-night fare, such as “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon,” and has at times even topped “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
His combined viewership on the two programs — “The Five” and “Gutfeld!” — soared to an average of more than 5 million per day in the fourth quarter of 2021. It’s quite a feat for an edgy former men’s magazine editor who finds himself at a network populated by some of the biggest and most enduring figures in the conservative media pantheon.
Even more impressive is the fact that Gutfeld’s show has been getting preempted a lot lately due to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Here are a few responses to the story from Twitter:
Trounces Kimmel and Fallon. Usually right there with Colbert depending on the night.
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) March 18, 2022
Which is even more impressive because he hasn’t been on the air for 2 weeks.
— Michael W. Bunner (@michaelwbunner) March 18, 2022
Gutfeld is a good laugh and something many need to do more often.
— JeanneInWa (@ConservativeBu7) March 18, 2022
People are desperate for news and opinion that isn’t batsh*t crazy water-carrying for Biden
And @greggutfeld is funny.— KBR 🇺🇸 (@Roberts175) March 17, 2022
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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