With 3.5 Million Viewers, Tucker Carlson Has The Week’s Highest-Rated Cable News Show

Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson drew an audience of 3.473 million viewers last week, making Tucker Carlson Tonight the highest-rated show in cable news for the week ending February 12. Carlson’s show also delivered 490,000 viewers 25-54, the demographic group most valued by national advertisers.

Carlson helped propel Fox News to its 104th consecutive weekly ratings victory over CNN and MSNBC, with an average prime time audience of 2.5 million viewers and 359,000 viewers in the key demo. Fox News Channel also won the week for total day ratings (6 a.m. to 6 a.m.), with an average total audience of 1.54 million viewers and 205,000 viewers in the key demo.

FNC’s late night show Gutfeld! easily fended off a comedic challenge from CNN, which began airing Bill Maher’s Overtime in late night on Fridays, with Gutfeld! averaging 2.047 million viewers compared to Maher’s 352,000 viewers.

For the week, FNC’s The Five was the second most-watched show in cable news after Tucker Carlson Tonight, with an average audience of 3.444 million viewers, followed by Jesse Watters Primetime (3.018 million viewers), Hannity (2.965 million viewers) and Special Report with Bret Baier (2.576 million viewers)—all airing on the Fox News Channel.

In the key demo, Hannity was second overall behind Tucker Carlson with 409,000 viewers, followed by The Five (394,000 viewers), Jesse Watters Primetime (340,000 viewers) and Special Report with Bret Baier (312,000 viewers).

The week saw President Joe Biden deliver his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress, with Fox News Channel drawing 4.7 million viewers, the largest single audience of any cable or broadcast network. ABC was second overall and had the highest-rated coverage of any broadcast network.

In mornings, FNC’s Fox & Friends was once again the most-watched show in cable news with an audience of 1.295 million viewers, triple that of CNN This Morning, which had 387,000 total viewers. MSNBC’s Morning Joe was second overall with 929,000 viewers.