Ever since it premiered in April, "Gutfeld!" has been doing pretty darn well, no matter how much the haters tried to deny its stellar ratings. Marisa Sarnoff reported for Mediaite that the late-night program dominated the Thursday 11pm time slot in total viewers and with the key demo of those 25-54 years old. Not only that, but the show had more viewers in both than any CNN show. Not surprisingly, then, CNN performed not only behind Fox News, but CNN as well. It's not merely "Gutfeld!" which is doing so well, but the entire network.
Fox News often does well in the ratings, dominating its cable news competitors. That's nothing new, whether people want to admit it or not. You could tell it pained Thomas Moore to report on this for the Hill, considering he felt the need to write that "CNN beat Fox in ratings battles earlier this year, but since then Fox News regained its spot as the ratings leader, even as audiences numbers for the major cable news channels have declined since President Biden took office."
Not so anymore. Marisa Sarnoff also noted:
Fox News had four of the five most-watched shows in cable news Thursday, and the five most-watched in the key demo. Tucker Carlson Tonight was first, with nearly 3.2 million total viewers, and 512,000 in the demo. Hannity was second, with 2.76 million total viewers, and 448,000 in the demo. The Five was third in total viewers, with 2.74 million, and fifth in the demo, with 395,000. MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show was fourth, with 2.7 million total viewers, but with 363,000 in the demo, didn’t make the top five with adult viewers on Thursday. The Ingraham Angle was fifth in total viewers, with 2.27 million, and third in the demo, with 441,000. Gutfeld! was fourth in the demo.
In total day, Fox averaged 1.66 million total viewers, and 284,000 in the demo. MSNBC was second, with 1.16 million total viewers, and third in the demo, with 146,000. CNN was third in total viewers, with 756,000, and second in the demo, with 206,000.
The crux of Moore's article centers around Lachlan Murdoch, CEO of Fox News’s parent company and his pointing to Fox News' viewers who are to the center or to the center-left as to why the network is doing so well.
Moore reported that Murdoch shared the welcoming news for the network on Thursday at the MoffettNathanson Media and Communications Summit.
"The proof is in the pudding in that if you look at Fox News, we have more independent voters than any other network," he said.
When it comes to viewers on the left and viewers on the right, and the competition he faces from more conservative outlets, such as Newsmax and One America News, Murdoch pointed out that it "means that there’s space to our left and to our right for new competitors to come in." He added that "we're confident in our journalism. We're confident in our reporting. We're very happy with our opinion hosts."
As I reported earlier this week, according to polls from Rasmussen and the Heartland Institute, Fox News viewers are more informed on the issues than the other networks, including those who watch CNN and MSNBC.
