Cable viewers like Tucker Carlson. They like Kanye West even more, apparently.
According to Mediaite, âTucker Carlson Tonightâ was seen by 3.59 million viewers Thursday, when he featured an Interview with West.
That was enough to top the 3.37 million brought in by âThe Five,â which Mediaite said âregularlyâ garners the highest viewership in cable news. Carlson also came out on top in the 25-54 demographic â you know, the one media reporters insist on describing as âcoveted.â
Overall, it looked like a pretty good night for Fox News in general, with Jesse Wattersâ show also pulling in more than 3 million total viewers, according to the outlet.
You can see the entire cable news ratings numbers at Mediaiteâs site. It amuses me every time I look at it to note that NewsNation doesnât even bother trying to compete with âOutnumberedâ or Martha MacCallumâs âThe Storyâ on Fox; the self-described âtrusted source for breaking news, unbiased U.S. News & video delivered from the heartland of America delivered 24/7â runs five episodes of âBlue Bloodsâ from noon to 5 p.m. Eastern every weekday.
Then on Saturdays, it runs several hours of infomercials in the morning, followed by 10 episodes of âBlue Bloodsâ every week, and on Sundays itâs more infomercials and 22 episodes of âLast Man Standing.â
Donât get me wrong; Tom Selleck and Tim Allen are two of my favorites, but if 46 hours of police drama and situation comedy every week reasonably constitutes any portion of the â24/7â news coverage NewsNation claims to provide, Iâll eat my hat.
And then Iâll eat Tom Selleck and Tim Allenâs hats. But I digress.
Overall, Fox News picked up about 1.9 million viewers on average during the day Thursday, almost 25 percent more than CNN and MSNBCcombined.
The other outlets fared a little better in that key 25-42 demographic, combining to garner nearly 90 percent of what Fox News managed to bring in on its own. (I know thatâs still pretty pathetic, but Iâm trying not to rub it in too much.)
The ratios werenât exactly the same in prime time, but they were close enough that I wonât bore you with more percentages.
Itâs fairly easy to see why âTucker Carlson Tonightâ did so well Thursday. There were plenty of revelations â like the fact that Kim Kardashian was never more than a cellphone call away from former first lady Hillary Clinton even during their marriage, and West never even knew it.
And West has never shied away from controversy.
âThey said stuff like, âpeople get killed for wearing a hat like that,â they threatened my life,â West told Carlson. âThey basically said I would be killed for wearing the hat. I had someone call me last night and said, âAnybody wearing a White Lives Matter shirt is going to be green lit.â And that means, beat them up if they wear it.
âIâm like, green light me then,â was Westâs response to those comments. âGod builds warriors in a different way.â
Then, after explaining why he does not care about the opinions of others, and blasting the âgodless agendaâ of the mainstream media, West told Carlson, âI perform for an audience of one, and thatâs God.â
Thatâs actual news â a solid Interview on important topics in society and entertainment with an actual cultural icon. Thatâs probably why Carlson beat out not only shows on other networks in his time slot, but even other Fox News shows that evening.
And you know what? I take back what I said about âBlue Bloodsâ and âLast Man Standingâ not belonging in NewsNationâs lineup. Now that I think of it, thereâs probably more truth in those two shows than in your average hour of whatever theyâre running on MSNBC.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
