Fox News has had a terrific 2022. Throughout the year its cable shows, particularly shows with Greg Gutfeld and Tucker Carlson, absolutely demolished the competition, particularly in younger demographics. Meanwhile, the digital division of Fox News did well too, brutalizing the woke online competition and also outperforming even other conservative news sites.
But it wasn’t just Fox News’ biggest personalities and website that did well. Other Fox News figures did as well, such as Dan Bongino. In fact, according to a recent report in Ad Week, Dan Bongino’s Saturday night show was the most-watched show on primetime, absolutely blowing the competition at CNN and MSNBC out of the water.
That show occurs during the 9 pm (EST) time slot. During it, Bongino and his show brought in a whopping 1.19 million total viewers. Meanwhile, CNN’s program at the same time, the Ad Week report shows, brought in only 219,000 average viewers. MSNBC managed to do just slightly better than CNN, bringing in 315,000 average viewers in that 9 pm EST time slot.
Bongino’s domination extended to the crucial 25-54 demographic, bringing in 134,000 average viewers in that demographic. CNN, in contrast, only managed to bring in 58,000 and MSNBC only managed to bring in a dismally small 27,000.
Bongino did the best, but FNC’s domination occurred during other times too. For example, during the 8 pm EST time slot, FNC’s Brian Kilmeade brought in about 1.06 million viewers. A bit less than Bongino at 9, but still far better than CNN and MSNBC. CNN, during that time slot, did a bit better than it does at 9 pm, bringing in 282,000 average viewers, still far less than Kilmeade. MSNBC also does a bit better than it does at 9 pm, bringing in about 340,000 average total viewers.
This is yet another victory notch in the belt for Fox News, which has dominated its woke competition since Trump left office, particularly over the past year. For example, Fox Media Relations commented on the milestone it reached from a ratings perspective in December of 2022 and how that milestone compared to MSNBC and CNN, saying:
FOX News Channel (FNC) notched its seventh year as leader in all of cable television while delivering the third highest-rated year ever in cable news history for 2022 in total day viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. The network’s programs continued to break new ratings records throughout the year, resulting in FNC continuing as the number one cable network in primetime and total day in viewers in basic cable for the seventh consecutive year and the highest-rated cable news network for the 21st straight year.
In primetime, FNC averaged 2,330,000 total viewers, 346,000 in the 25-54 demo and 214,000 in the 18-49 demo. In total day, FNC was the only network to post increases versus 2021, delivering 1,489,000 total viewers, 231,000 in the 25-54 demo and 141,000 in the 18-49 demo. FNC trounced CNN and MSNBC combined in primetime and total day across both categories, finishing the year as the only cable news network to notch more than 2 million in primetime viewers and 1 million in total day viewers.
FNC programs made up 92 of the top 100 cable news shows during 2022. Notably, CNN and MSNBC each saw their lowest-rated years of all time in total day with the younger A25-54 demo. According to data from Nielsen/MRI Fusion, FNC also attracted the most politically diverse audience in cable news with more Democrats, Independents and Republicans tuning into FNC than any other network in total viewers and the younger A25-54 demo
This year, FNC had its second highest share of the cable news audience in its history with 53% in total day in the 25-54 demo. FNC also drew 55% of the primetime audience in total viewers.