News/Commentary

Matt Gaetz draws bigger audience than CNN while filling in for Newsmax TV’s Greg Kelly

May 31, 2023 | | Print Article

It’s a safe bet to suggest that U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., has yet to meet a camera he did not like, but his recent stint filling in on Newsmax TV’s “Greg Kelly Reports” suggests that the camera likes him just as much — at least, the viewers do anyway.

While CNN may be a low bar for comparisons, it’s still impressive that the Gaetz-hosted show on Friday beat out the embattled network.

“You’re on the right channel. If you’re confused, your eyes are not failing you, and Greg Kelly did not suddenly get better hair,” Rep. Gaetz said on Friday, as the show came to air. “I’m Matt Gaetz. Thanks for joining us on ‘Greg Kelly Reports.’ Greg has the night off and I have the biggest stories driving Washington, D.C. right now.”

Gaetz’s entire opening monologue on Friday’s show can be seen below:

The Republican lawmaker was the only Newsmax host to win an hour against one of the three main networks, according to Mediaite. He beat CNN, which was airing an episode of “The Whole Story With Anderson Cooper,” with 282,000 total viewers to 249,000 total viewers.

CNN did manage to beat Newsmax in the key 25-54 age demographic with 41,000 viewers to 38,000, according to the website.

Fox News, which is still feeling the sting of its messy breakup with Tucker Carlson, led the hour with 106,000 demo viewers and 1.23 million total viewers.

Gaetz, who hosts his own podcast, also guest-hosted the Newsmax show on Monday night, but those numbers are not yet available, according to Mediaite. The congressman plugged Monday’s fill-in role while responding to a social media user:

Gaetz also took to Twitter to respond to the news that he beat out CNN: “Thank you to the team at Greg Kelly Reports and to the guests who brought forward key information regarding this bad Debt Limit Bill. It was a groundbreaking opportunity to showcase behind-the-scenes negotiations in real time! Thank you @NEWSMAX!”

Here’s a sampling of responses to the story from Twitter that run the gamut:

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