Fox News Channel’s ratings have tanked in the wake of its getting rid of well-liked and populist-minded host Tucker Carlson, though Greg Gutfeld recently managed to score two ratings wins for the network.
In fact, Gutfeld, who continues to be the most dominant personality in “conservative” cable news as both a co-host of both “The Five” and the host his late-night show “Gutfeld!,” scored a big win on the night of Friday, May 5.
That night, “The Five” was the most-watched show on all cable news. It managed to bring in a whopping 2.5 million total viewers, blowing CNN’s similarly timed “Situation Room” out of the water. “Situation Room” brought in a dismally low 698,000 total viewers. Meanwhile, Fox News Channel’s conservative competitor in that timeslot, Newsmax’s “Frontline,” had 282,000 viewers.
Additionally, Mediaite reported that “Gutfeld!” has continued to be a success as well, saying:
The show replaced news program Fox News @ Night in April 2021, and has made double-digit gains on Fox since, with a 44 percent boost in total viewers and a 25 percent gain in the key 25-54 age demographic. Since its debut, Gutfeld! has averaged 1.9 million total viewers and 332,000 in the key demo. That audience has only grown from the debut: its first episode brought in about 1.7 million viewers total and 318,000 demo viewers — a strong showing that topped all of cable news at 11 p.m.
Gutfeld’s outperformance is a major buoy for Fox News, which has suffered a steep rating decline since it got rid of Tucker Carlson. Whether because former viewers decided to boycott it in protest of its getting rid of Tucker or because they just no longer had Tucker to tune into, Fox News has seen its viewership drop off of a cliff, as Revolver reported, saying:
On Tuesday night, during the 8:00 pm hour Fox News only attracted 1.7 million viewers, down significantly from the numbers Tucker brought in. And take a look at Hannity’s ratings. He’s down approximately a million eyeballs.
Tucker was a huge “lead-in” boost for Sean, and without those numbers, Sean could be big in trouble—Laura Ingraham, too. Keep in mind, last Tuesday when Tucker was on air at 8:00 pm, Fox news registered these numbers: 481,000/3,223,000.
Last night at 8:00 pm, without Tucker Carlson, these were the numbers: 159,333 | 1,777,000.
Fox News is down a whopping two-thirds in the key demographic.
Gutfeld, for his part, has stuck by Tucker and defended him from attacks on social media, as we reported on The American Tribune, saying:
Fox News Channel host Greg Gutfeld came out swinging on Twitter after Media Matters tried to make Tucker look bad by sharing clips of his off-camera jokes and remarks. Gutfeld, having quite the opposite reaction of what Media Matters wanted, continued to defend his former colleague and mock those trying to do him in.
Gutfeld took particular issue with a clip shared by Media Matters on Thursday in which Tucker was joking with the makeup artist. “Tucker Carlson asks makeup artist if ‘pillow fights ever break out’ in the women’s bathroom in new behind-the-scenes video,” Media Matters tweeted, also sharing a video clip of the exchange.
Gutfeld, finding that characterization of it absurd, snapped back, “Imagine having to tell your parents that your job is narcing on the casual comments of other people while they, happily unaware, make a living. Your parents would be so embarrassed and ashamed they’d rather tell their friends you died in a fire.”
That wasn’t all. Gutfeld also said, “apparently everyone understands nonsense banter between segments except for hall monitor failures bitterly chronicling the lives of the far more successful.” That was in response to another tweet by Media Matters in which it said, “NEW FOXLEAKS: Media Matters obtained three more behind-the-scenes videos featuring former Fox host Tucker Carlson’s creepy on-set comments.”
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