Newsmax moved morning host Rob Finnerty from mornings to primetime in October, and the move has immediately paid dividends for the network.
Finnerty — airing live at 8 PM ET — has eclipsed more than 400,000 viewers in recent weeks, besting shows from CNN in the process, despite having only been on the air for two months.
So, does the product match the hype? Let’s find out.
I watched the Tuesday, December 10th episode of the primetime show from Newsmax. The program began with Finnerty discussing — admittedly on a slow news day — the coverage of the acquittal of Daniel Penny from The New York Times, and how it relates to the incoming inauguration of Donald Trump. That then coincided with a clip of an MSNBC host discussing the topic with a guest.
Finnerty used the conversation from the competition as a jumping-off point for “how out of touch the rest of the media” is. Now, to be frank, I hate the “the mainstream/legacy/corporate media is lazy/dishonest/corrupt/etc…” talk that many in the industry perpetuate.
For instance, it’s often bandied about on The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show on news/talk radio. If you work for the biggest radio company, the biggest radio syndicator, and brag about how you have the largest show in America, I don’t think you get to talk about “the media” being corrupt, dishonest, what have you. You are the media. Rob Finnerty is the media. Again, this isn’t strictly related to him, but I feel like it’s an important thing to point out. It’s a low-hanging fruit topic nine times out of ten. The idea that “I’m the only person you can trust” is entirely too prevalent in conservative media today.
Finnerty then argued that the story was an attempt by liberal media outlets to stoke racial tensions as Penny, a white Veteran, was accused of killing a Black man on a New York subway. He then quickly pivoted from that angle to how “America is healing” after the contentious 2024 presidential election by showing a photo of Dr. Jill Biden sitting next to Trump at the re-opening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
I think this early portion of the show — all of which took place in the first two minutes and thirty seconds — highlights why Finnerty works. This isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned this in regard to the current news media landscape, but we live in an instantaneous world. It’s the TikTokification of our content. If you’re not moving quickly, making your point and then moving on, and bouncing around from subject to subject, you’re likely losing your audience.
And Rob Finnerty did a fine job of it in his opening monologue. Essentially hitting three different topics for less than a minute each is going to keep the attention of viewers. Despite Finnerty’s audience being compromised of viewers likely much older than the average TikTok user, attention spans still aren’t all that long in that generation, either. So the graphic changes, near-constant movement on the lower thirds, and the promotion of what’s coming up on the show keep a viewer’s attention.
Overall, Finnerty hit 14 topics or stories in the first 11 minutes of the program. Which one could argue is too much to tackle in such a short period of time. The argument being that if you don’t have more than 40 to 60 seconds to say on something, why are you covering it at all? I would call that outdated thinking. Because in an expanded media ecosystem — that now includes YouTube, YouTube shorts, TikTok, and Instagram Reels — that one cable news segment can now be 14 pieces of content that can be avenues of exposure to new viewers of the Finnerty show and the Newsmax brand.
The primetime show also featured a conversation with Alina Habba — the former attorney for Donald Trump and “Counselor to the President — that probed what her future inside the Trump administration looks like.
It began with a great question from Rob Finnerty about what exactly the role entails, how she views her role inside the Trump White House, and how she would define her position. It’s an interesting question because the title is such a broad one. And in a campaign that was adamant about providing government efficiency, it’s a completely fair question to ask of a political official.
Now, the conversation did wade into the conspiratorial waters Newsmax is widely known and chastised by other outlets for, as Finnerty asked Habba if she believed the July assassination attempt on Donald Trump was a “setup” due to the fact that we know more about the shooter of the United Healthcare CEO than we do about the would-be Pennsylvania assassin.
Habba did a relatively good job of side-stepping that question and instead answered by sharing her support for the Secret Service. Ultimately, however, she played into the “I’m just asking questions” tone of Finnerty by questioning why we “don’t have more answers” about the motives of Thomas Matthews Crooks.
After watching the hour-long show from Newsmax, I can understand why it has grown in popularity since launching in October. I can see why, especially after the wave of energy from conservatives after the election, they have turned to the program. Finnerty tackles a lot in a short amount of time. It can easily be viewed as the cliff notes version of what has happened or should matter to today’s conservative cable news viewer. And if that’s the mission of the show, I’d say it’s mission accomplished thus far.
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing daily news stories, features, and opinion columns. He joined Barrett Media in 2022 after a decade leading several radio brands in several formats, as well as a 5-year stint working in local television. In addition to his work with Barrett Media, he is a radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
