Fox News’ round table show “The Five” has been declared the most watched cable news show of 2022, with an average viewership of 3.5 million, according to Nielsen data viewed by the Los Angeles Times.
The show managed to overtake Fox’s prime-time show “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” which averaged 3.3 million viewers
The Nielsen ratings’ top ten cable shows is often dominated by sports, with the only non-sports program to top “The Five” being Paramount Network’s hit show “Yellowstone.”
While both Fox News shows managed to increase their viewership from last year, “The Five” grew significantly more, up 17 percent from last year. Airing live at 5 pm Eastern and 2 pm Pacific, it has also become the first non-prime-time cable news program to top the ratings.
“The Five” features four conservative personalities, Jesse Watters, Dana Perino, Jeanine Pirro, and Greg Gutfeld, with a rotating chair of three liberal commentators, Jessica Tarlov, Harold Ford, and Geraldo Rivera.
The show, which has been a staple of Fox News since 2011, bills itself as the only cable news show where opposing views can be debated on a regular basis.
In an increasingly polarized cable news landscape, “The Five” is notable for attracting a relatively high number of viewers who identify politically as Democratic or Independent. The ratings suggest that conservatives tend to consistently flock to Fox News, while liberals hold down the fort at MSNBC.
Fox News’ liberal competition, CNN and MSNBC, have both seen significant year-to-year declines in 2022. CNN has tried to center its political alignment recently under the helm of new CEO Chris Licht.
