Fox News host Greg Gutfeld continues to be the most dominant force in cable news as a cohost of both “The Five” and also the host of his own eponymous late-night show.
“The Five” has been a ratings juggernaut for the network for years.
But there is little doubt after last Friday that the show’s success is in large part driven by Gutfeld, who is the most potent tool in the network’s arsenal.
“The Five” won the day in the key 25 -54 age demographic, which is sought after by advertisers.
The show drew in 309,000 viewers in the demo — besting its completion across all other networks on April 14, Mediaite reported.
The show also won the day in total viewers with nearly 2.9 million sets of eyeballs.
It is not uncommon for “The Five” to blow its competition on CNN and MSNBC out of the water, so this bit of news is essentially not all that newsy.
What is news is what happened hours after “The Five” wrapped for the week.
At 11 p.m. ET, “Gutfeld!” absolutely crushed it when it hauled in 1.7 million total viewers and a whopping 270,000 in the demo.
Gutfeld’s late-night show led every other cable news program combined in both total viewers and the demo.
“The Five” continues to be a hit with viewers while “Gutfeld!” is more than holding its own against its “woke” late-night competitors on network television where people can watch for free.
But what happened Friday is monumental. It proves Gutfeld is an outright commodity.
The 58-year-old was the common denominator between the two shows that drew in the most viewers — and the most viewers in the demo — during an era in which people have endless opportunities for entertainment.
Gutfeld has been called the “king of late-night” in recent months as his show has been more popular than “The Tonight Show” on NBC, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on ABC and “The Late Show” on CBS.
After Friday night, Gutfeld might be the undisputed king of cable.
The success of his day cannot be overstated, as we’re talking in part about a talk show in “Gutfeld!” that aired on a cable news network on a Friday night at 11 p.m. for much of the country.
That level of success is astounding.
Gutfeld started out his TV career in 2007 hosting an overnight comedy show on Fox News called “Red Eye.”
“Red Eye” targeted young people at 3 a.m. ET and was successful enough that its host was moved to days.
Gutfeld is now a network mainstay and arguably the single most influential person in the news media.
That’s not too shabby for a man who was fired as the editor-in-chief of Stuff magazine in 2003 and labeled as a mere “pest” by The New York Times.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
