Fox News’s Greg Gutfeld Leads Cable News With Younger Viewers, Quadruples the Daily Show’s Audience

Fox News announced some major ratings gains in the second quarter of 2024, a time when media companies are struggling left and right .

The network was number one over its competitors for yet another quarter, and they posted double-digit gains in every measured category. For comparison, CNN hit a 33-year low in total day viewers in the 18-49 and 25-54 demos. The network also aired the first debate between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump , which brought them their biggest ratings in network history but wasn’t enough to significantly boost the average demo ratings for the quarter.

Greg Gutfeld and Jesse Watters have plenty to celebrate with the former beating other late-night shows and the latter seeing gains that made him the most-watched primetime show in the 8 p.m. slot, with June being Watters’s most-watched month ever. Both are also co-hosts on The Five , which is the biggest non-primetime show in cable news for the 11th straight quarter, setting a record. Fox’s overall ratings represent more than 50% of the audience share in both total day and prime time ratings.

The Five averaged 3.1 million viewers in the second quarter and 270,000 in the 25-54 demo. The ratings are unusually high for a 5 p.m. show with The Five drawing far more viewers than prime time shows on rival networks.

Gutfeld! was not far behind in overall viewers, averaging 2.1 million. The show averaged above The Five in the 25-54 demo, bringing in 295,000 viewers — the most of any cable news program. Gutfeld, who previously hosted the 3 a.m. Red Eye , saw a double-digit increase in that demo. The show continues to beat other late night programs from Stephen Colbert , Jimmy Kimmel , and others, though it benefits from airing slightly earlier at 10 p.m. He also managed to beat Seth Meyers in the 18-49 and 25-54 demos.

Gutfeld! more than quadrupled the total viewers tuning into The Daily Show , which recently saw Jon Stewart return part-time as host. Gutfeld’s show also doubled Daily Show’s average of 146,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo. Gutfeld will be broadcasting his show live at the 11 p.m. hour from Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention.

Watters is just shy of a year at the 8 p.m. slot and he’s seeing big year-over-year gains. Jesse Watters Primetime averaged 2.7 million viewers overall and 260,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo, representing a 69% jump in total viewers and a 65% jump in the key demo.

Fox’s other primetime shows also posted strong ratings over the competition, including 2.1 million for The Ingraham Angle (201,000 in 25-54 demo), 2.4 million for Hannity (258,000 in demo), and 1.3 million for FOX News @ Night (187,000 in demo).

Daytime programs weren’t too far behind primetime, with America’s Newsroom , The Faulkner Focus , Outnumbered , The Story with Martha MacCallum , and Your World with Neil Cavuto all averaging 1.5 million or more in total viewers and bringing in more than 160,000 in the 25-54 demo.

Fox & Friends , which runs for a three-hour block in the morning, meanwhile averaged 1.1 million viewers with 150,000 in the 25-54 demo, beating competition from CNN and MSNBC.

Weekend programming was led in the ratings by Sunday Morning Futures , hosted by Maria Bartiromo , which averaged 1.5 million viewers, and Mark Levin’s Life, Liberty & Levin , which averaged 1.4 million viewers.