With an average of 3.5 million viewers, Nielsen data for 2022 ranks the Fox News roundtable program “The Five” as the most watched cable news program.
The number surpasses that of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” which had 3.3 million viewers annually on average. The Fox News prime-time show’s viewership is up 3% from 2021, when it held the title of most watched program of the year.
In contrast, “The Five” expanded by 17% over 2021. Live broadcasting at 5 p.m. Eastern and 2 p.m. Pacific, the show is the first non-primetime cable news program to win the year’s end.
The popular drama “Yellowstone” on Paramount Network is the only non-sports cable show that draws in more viewers than “The Five.”
Along with three liberal commentators—Jeanine Pirro, Harold Ford, and Geraldo Rivera—on a rotating chair, “The Five” includes conservatives Jesse Watters, Dana Perino, Greg Gutfeld, and Jessica Tarlov.”The Five” prides itself on being the only platform on cable news where individuals with different opinions are regularly seen engaging in a four-to-one pile-on. Since its 2011 premiere, the show has been successful in drawing people who identify as independent or Democratic on a political level.
In recent years, cable news audiences have become increasingly polarized, with liberals congregating at MSNBC and conservatives gravitating toward Fox News.
Executives at parent company Warner Bros. Discovery feel that CNN leaned too left during Donald Trump’s years in the White House, so the network has attempted to find a more balanced approach by inviting more Republican figures to appear on its shows.
Advertisers that purchase advertisements on Fox News prioritize viewers between the ages of 25 and 54, and Carlson continues to be one of the network’s most aggressive and contentious conservative commentators. Since Carlson’s divisive comments on immigration and other topics have sparked threats of consumer boycotts, many of those advertisers avoid his show.
