Tucker Carlson tops all primetime cable news competition

Tucker Carlson’s debut in the 9 p.m. ET timeslot on Fox News Monday night topped all cable news competition in the key 25-54 demographic advertisers covet most.

Overall, “Tucker Carlson Tonight” delivered 2.699 million viewers in Megyn Kelly’s old timeslot, easily beating MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” (1.369 million) and a CNN town hall special with Sen. Bernie Sanders (1.357 million).

Compared to 2016 numbers on the same day, Carlson was up 27 percent in total viewers and 45 percent in the key 25-54 demographic, where Carlson registered 493,000 viewers and topped the night in the cable news race.

{mosads}Former Fox News host Greta Van Susteren also made her MSNBC debut Monday, with the first episode of “For the Record” at 6 p.m. ET.

The former civil defense attorney delivered 809,000 total viewers, good for second place over CNN’s Wolf Blitzer (724,000 viewers) but behind Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier” (2.966 million). 

ESPN’s presentation of the college football championship game between Alabama and Clemson easily won the night for both cable and broadcast networks, taking in 26.03 million viewers across all ESPN channels and its streaming services.

Carlson and Van Susteren both offered a diverse guest list for their respective debuts, with the former featuring The Blaze’s Glenn Beck, a former Fox News host, and respected New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.

Van Susteren booked Donald Trump’s chief of staff and former RNC chairman Reince Priebus as her first guest, with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Obama senior adviser Valarie Jarrett also joining the program. Legendary NFL quarterback Brett Favre also called in for a surprise phone interview.

Carlson took over for Kelly, who decided not to renew her contract with Fox despite a reported $100 million offer over four years.

Van Susteren took over the vacant 6 p.m. timeslot at MSNBC after a replay of Bloomberg’s “With All Due Respect” ended its daily run after the 2016 election.