The Drudge Report dropped a piece of huge news on Wednesday when announced an imminent shake-up at Fox News, eventually reporting that Sean Hannity will take over at 8 p.m.
“WORLD EXCLUSIVE: FOXNEWS SETS NEW SCHEDULE” read the headline from Matt Drudge on the highly-trafficked website he founded. Drudge eventually updated that headline to note Hannity’s new gig as well as report both Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld would be heading to prime time, with Laura Ingraham’s fate unknown, and rumors she’ll be fired.
It is noted that Watters currently hosts one of Fox’s top-rated shows at 7 p.m. while Gutfeld hosts a highly-rated late-night show at 11 p.m. — both co-host Fox’s top-rated program The Five at 5 p.m.
Hannity, meanwhile, broke the record for longest-running cable news prime time host in April of 2022, eclipsing Larry King at 25 years, six months, and 15 days.
“FOXNEWS is preparing to announce an ambitious new schedule, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned, a schedule where ever hour of primetime will change!” Drudge reported. “TOP SOURCE TELLS DRUDGE: ‘IT’S OUR BOLDEST AND MOST FEARLESS LINE-UP EVER’…”
A Fox News spokesperson told Mediaite, “No decision has been made on a new primetime line-up and there are multiple scenarios under consideration.”
Fox News’ top-rated opinion host, Tucker Carlson was fired at the end of April after a long string of controversies. While advertisers have reportedly flocked back to the 8 p.m. hour Carlson used to occupy, viewership has dropped significantly.
Meanwhile, MSNBC on Monday beat Fox News in prime time in both total viewers and in the key 25-54 age demographic favored by advertisers. Rachel Maddow beat Hannity at 9 p.m. on Monday and helped boost MSNBC to 1.86 million average prime time viewers and 188,000 prime time demo viewers. Fox came in a close second with 1.72 million prime time viewers and 174,000 prime time demo viewers.
Carlson averaged 3.25 million in the first quarter of 2023 at 8 p.m., the same hour on Monday brought in 1.62 million total viewers, similar to the average of 1.66 million viewers Fox saw in the week after Carlson’s ouster.
A rotating cast of hosts including Brian Kilmeade, Lawrence Jones, Kayleigh McEnany, and currently Will Cain replaced Carlson after his abrupt firing.
