On Monday at 7 p.m., Jesse Watters debuted as the new permanent host of Fox News’ 7 p.m. ET hour. His ratings were phenomenal and the best that Fox has seen in that timeslot in over a year.
The debut had more than 3.8 million viewers, The Wrap reported.
This number far surpassed the viewership of other programs like ABC’s “The Bachelor,” CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront” and MSNBC’s “The ReidOut.”
“Erin Burnett OutFront” only had 700,000 total average viewers while “The ReidOut” had 1.2 million viewers, The Wrap reported.
The last time Fox had numbers close to this was on Jan. 6, 2021, during the incursion into the Capitol.
But very importantly, Watters particularly had a large audience among a younger demographic, ages 25 to 54.
In the premiere, Watters made a promise to viewers to “expose those who are disrespecting the American people and to celebrate those who are forwarding American values and liberties,” as Fox News reported.
“The American people have run out of patience, and we’re tired of being disrespected,” Watters said, according to Fox News.
He then promised his viewers that he would be exposing the evils in America and working to bring back respect to the American people.
“[T]he American people have been disrespected for far too long. And that stops tonight. We’ll be exposing the scoundrels, celebrating the patriots and making sure we’re respected,” he said. “We’re in a republic and we give our representatives power to represent us, not themselves. Every night, we’ll remind them they work for us.”
Watters has hosted other successful shows on Fox, like “The Five” and his own “Watters World.”
Starting last year, Fox began shaking up its formula and rotated hosts through the coveted 7 p.m. spot. Watters was one of those in the rotation.
Then earlier this month, Fox finally named him as the permanent host for 7 p.m. He will continue to co-host “The Five,” but will no longer be doing his weekend “Watters World.”
Before his debut, Watters talked about how he was planning to be more cutting edge, which would draw more viewers.
“My tone is going to be the same. My style is going to be the same,” Watters told Fox, adding that some changes are inevitable when shifting schedules.
“I think the difference is going to be more the format, because, on a weekend show, you’re reacting to news of that week. So, you’re doing a lot of summarization and you’re incorporating all of the elements from the week and the impression that I’ve gotten of that week, whereas a nightly show, you’re basically, you swing for the fences every single night. So that’s going to be different. It’s going to be more cutting edge, I’ll put it that way,” Watters said.
Thus far, Watters has already stayed true to these promises. Coming off his record-breaking debut, on Tuesday he gave a fresh take on the American dissatisfaction with President Joe Biden and the media’s role in representing the president.
“The media spent the last few years serving as Biden’s hype man, promising us he’s a moderate, that he’s a great union fighter bring the country back together. Confident and calm. They insisted we were the perfect match because Joe was blue-collar Biden, America always loves a working-class hero. So the media turned Joe into one,” Watters said, as Fox News reported.
As he starts off his new era as the permanent host of the 7 p.m. hour, Watters is already smashing records and delivering a message the American people want to tune into.