The Lead
Fox News has continued its ratings success since the election of Donald Trump last November. Now, the network is besting the network television competition like ABC, CBS, and NBC in primetime. The performance is especially notable in late-night with the program hosted by Greg Gutfeld.
Through March 11th, Fox News is averaging 3.63 million total viewers in the primetime ratings. That tops CBS (3.57 million), NBC (3.13 million), ABC (3.1 million) and the FOX broadcast network (1.63 million). Not to mention, Fox News is nearly tripling the primetime ratings of MSNBC, which has averaged a total audience of 1.26 million, and CNN which sits at 635,000.
During the week of March 3rd, Gutfeld!, the late-night program hosted by Greg Gutfeld, averaged 3.7 million viewers, according to figures from Nielsen. That more than doubled the next closest challenger — CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert — which sat at 1.8 million viewers. Jimmy Kimmel Live! (1.5 million viewers) and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (1 million) were well behind.
In the 18-49 demographic, the show from Greg Gutfeld averaged 488,000 viewers. That topped the other network shows, which were much closer in that category with Colbert (272,000) topping Kimmel (246,000) and Fallon (235,000).
It is worth noting that Gutfeld! airs at 10 PM ET, while the other programs on ABC, CBS, and NBC begin at 11:30 or 11:35 PM ET.
Nightly Network Newscast Ratings Steady After Exit of Norah O’Donnell, Announcement by Lester Holt
The anchor desk of the nightly network newscasts has become surprisingly volatile in recent weeks, after the departure of CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell and the announcement that NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt would depart that network’s anchor chair later this year.
With those developments, we’ve seen the total viewership categories begin to steady.
ABC World News Tonight with David Muir continues to dominate the sector. That program averaged 7.9 million viewers during the week of March 3rd, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The NBC News program chaired by Holt remained in second with 6.4 million viewers. Finally, the CBS Evening News earned 4.4 million viewers, just over a 2% increase compared to the previous week. Both ABC News and NBC Nightly News were relatively flat for the week compared to the previous week.
In the Adults 25-54 demographic, ABC News led the way with 1.1 million viewers. NBC News slightly shrunk the gap, averaging 952,000 viewers from the sector, while ABC News was down by the slightest of margins.
The CBS News broadcast earned 623,000 viewers from the key demographic, a 3% decrease from the previous week.
Kudlow Sees Large Jump From Elon Musk Interview
Fox Business Network host Larry Kudlow hosted X owner and DOGE Director Elon Musk for a sit-down interview on Monday, and it led to a strong ratings showing for the channel and show.
During the conversation, 445,000 total viewers tuned in to hear the questions from Kudlow to Musk. That represented a 13% increase week-over-week, and a 64% increase year-over-year.
In 2024, Kudlow averaged 299,000 viewers, which means the conversation with Elon Musk earned a 49% increase compared to last year’s average. The year-to-date ratings for the show have rested a 326,000 total viewers, on average, with the Musk discussion representing a 37% uptick.
During the 4 PM ET hour on Monday, Fox Business Network more than doubled competitor CNBC with its Closing Bell program. That show earned 214,000 total viewers for the window.
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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.
