Greg Gutfeld is the new king of late-night television, marking the first time in history that a cable program achieved the lofty benchmark of most-watched late-night show for an entire month as “Gutfeld!” finished August atop all competitors.
“Gutfeld!” averaged 2.19 million viewers to defeat CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” which averaged 2.15 viewers. It was the first month since January 2017 that Colbert didn’t finish as the No. 1 late-night program between broadcast and cable.
August was the most-watched month for “Gutfeld!” since it launched in April 2021, as the Fox News program also outdrew ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” NBC’s “Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon” and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show.”
“Gutfeld!” more than doubled the average audience for CNN’s most-watched show, as “Anderson Cooper 360” averaged only 950,000 nightly viewers.
It was a big month for the program’s namesake host, as “The Five” – which also features Gutfeld as a co-host alongside Jesse Watters, Dana Perino and Jeanine Pirro, with Harold Ford Jr., Geraldo Rivera and Jessica Tarlov rotating in — averaged 3.4 million viewers to finish August as the most-watched program on cable news.
When it comes to the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults age 25-54, “Gutfeld!” averaged 358,000 to outdraw everything on cable news with the exception of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” “Hannity” and “The Five.” Nothing CNN or MSNBC has to offer drew a larger audience among the critical category than Fox News’ late-night program.
“Gutfeld!” launched in April 2021 as Fox News’ foray into late-night programming and quickly built an audience by offering an alternative to the far-left offerings on other networks. The success of “Gutfeld!” has come without heavily promoted Hollywood celebrities and fewer resources than legacy late-night shows, but viewers have been drawn to the quirky roundtable format, which provides a platform to a blend of trusted regulars and newcomers.
The staff of “Gutfeld!,” which features regulars such as Tyrus and Kat Timpf, received the Impact Award during the 2021 FOX News Media Spotlight Awards in June.
