Yahoo News ‘Jesse Watters Primetime’ Gives Fox News An 8 PM ET Boost In Debut In Time Slot; Verdict Still Out On Matching Tucker Carlson Audience
Jesse Watters’ debut as the permanent occupant of Fox News’ 8 p.m. hour gave the network a boost in the timeslot, versus the series of replacement hosts who have filled the time period since the cancellation of Tucker Carlson’s show.
Jesse Watters Primetime averaged 2.47 million viewers during the hour. That compares to the 1.66 million that Fox News Tonight averaged in June.
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Still, Watters’ audience was less than the 3.1 million viewers that Carlson averaged in the time period last July. The network is obviously aiming for Watters’ audience to grow, as Carlson’s did after he replaced Bill O’Reilly in 2017.
Watters on Monday beat cable news rivals, including an MSNBC Joe Scarborough special, which averaged 1.29 million, and CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, which averaged 686,000.
In the adults 25-54 demo, Watters averaged 161,000 viewers, compared to 139,000 for MSNBC’s Scarborough and 120,000 for CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360.
Watters’ move was among a series of Fox News nighttime scheduling changes that launched on Monday. Fox News topped primetime, averaging 2.28 million, compared to 1.18 million for MSNBC and 574,000 for CNN. In the 25-54 demo, Fox News averaged 187,000, compared to 169,000 for MSNBC and 120,000 for CNN.
Fox News left the 9 p.m. time period unchanged. MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show topped the hour with 2.35 million, compared to 2.24 million for Fox News’ Hannity and 548,000 for CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins. In the 25-54 demo, Maddow averaged 193,000 to 150,000 for Hannity and 129,000 for The Source.
Fox News also moved Greg Gutfeld’s show up an hour, to 10 p.m. ET. It averaged 2.14 million in its initial outing in that time period, improving on the 1.7 million June average for the slot’s previous occupant, Laura Ingraham. MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell averaged 1.81 million, and CNN Primetime averaged 489,000. In the 25-54 demo, Gutfeld! averaged 250,000, compared to 175,000 for O’Donnell and 111,000 for CNN. Gutfeld’s demo was tops among all shows during the day.
The move of Ingraham to the earlier 7 p.m. ET slot resulted in an average of 2.09 million viewers in that time period, a slight improvement on the 2.08 million that Watters averaged in the slot last month. MSNBC’s ReidOut averaged 1.16 million, and CNN’s Erin Burnett OutFront posted 631,000. In the 25-54 demo, Ingraham averaged 162,000, compared to 137,000 for ReidOut and 108,000 for Burnett.
Fox News’ move of Gutfeld! up an hour returned the newscast Fox News @ Night to the 11 p.m. ET hour. It averaged 1.04 million viewers, edged out by MSNBC’s The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle, which posted 1.11 million. CNN Tonight averaged 428,000. In the 25-54 demo, Fox News @ Night averaged 143,000, compared to The 11th Hour with 112,000 and CNN Tonight with 100,000.
The most viewed show of the day was Fox News’ The Five, which averaged 2.6 million viewers.
The ratings are from Nielsen via MSNBC and Fox News.
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