Network reports announced an impending change at Fox News, with Sean Hannity taking the reins as the network’s 8 o’clock anchor.
Soon after Hannity’s new job was announced, Greg Gutfeld and Jesse Watters’ impending prime-time debuts were also included in news headlines.
Reports reveal Watters and Gutfeld, co-hosts of Fox News’s highest-ranked show, The Five at 5 p.m., anchor highly rated programs later in the evening: Watters at 7 p.m. and Gutfeld at 11 p.m.
Hannity has surpassed Larry King as the longest-running prime-time host in television news.
Tucker Carlson, Fox News’ most popular opinion anchor, was let go in April due to an accumulation of Fox News scandals. Advertisers have apparently returned to the 8 p.m. hour that Tucker Carlson formerly had, but viewership has plummeted.
Both overall viewers and the critical 25-54 age category preferred by advertisers backed MSNBC over Fox News on Monday night during prime time. On Monday, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow topped Hannity in the 9 o’clock hour, resulting in an increase in average evening viewers to 1.86 million and an increase in peak time demo viewers to 188,000. Fox ranked second place with 1.72 million total viewers and 174,000 viewers in the 18-49 demographic during prime time.
According to a report that describes MSNBC as a dismal leftist state-run cable network, it is now more popular than Fox News during prime time. Many viewers have been alienated by Fox after the network fired Tucker Carlson. Fox News’ ratings used to be nightly twice that of MSNBC’s during prime time. But, no more. (See stats table at the link).
Without Tucker Carlson, Hannity’s numbers aren’t going to increase suddenly. As the report calls it, Hannity’s stale “neocon” propaganda is no longer effective.
Only time will tell.
