Variety: Megyn Kelly Mopping the Floor With Her Time-Slot 'Competition'; Hannity and Greta Also Outperform

[Cincinnatus]

Good for Megyn.

Anyone doubting Roger Ailes' eye for talent needs to go somewhere else besides his shuffling of Fox News's weekday evening lineup, especially but not exclusively his decision to move Megyn Kelly into the 9 p.m. time slot.

Variety's Brian Steinberg reports that Kelly has put even more distance between Fox and its so-called competitors at CNN, MSNBC, and HLN, while Greta Van Susteren and Sean Hannity have both grown their respective time slots (HT Johnny Dollar's Place; bolds are mine):

The Fox News Channel primetime lineup has long won more viewers than programming offered by its cable-news competitors, but the network’s “The Kelly File” is doing something extraordinary.

The 9 p.m. program, anchored by Megyn Kelly, delivered an average of nearly 2.5 million viewers and an average of 430,000 in the demographic preferred by sponsors of news programming between October 28 and November 24 - more than the combined average of time-slot competitors on CNN, MSNBC and HLN. “Kelly File”debuted October 7.

According to Nielsen, “Kelly File” lured an average of 2,495,000 viewers in that time period, compared with an average of 454,000 for CNN’s “Piers Morgan Live,” 914,000 for MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show” and 259,000 for HLN’s “Dr. Drew” and the network’s Friday-night “Mystery Detectives.” Among audiences between the ages of 25 and 54, “Kelly’s” average of 430,000 compares with an average of 114,000 for “Piers Morgan Live,” 224,000 for “Rachel Maddow” and 85,000 for “Dr. Drew” and “Mystery Detectives.”

The numbers lend some ballast to the recent decision at Fox News Channel to rejigger a primetime lineup that had not changed in more than 11 years. As part of that October shuffle, “Kelly File” took up residence at 9 p.m., while that time-slot’s previous occupant, “Hannity” moved to 10 p.m. and “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” moved to 7 p.m. from 10 p.m.

According to figures from Nielsen, in the third quarter, “The Kelly File, “On The Record” and “Hannity” – all holding forth in new time slots – have increased viewership in audience between the ages of 25 and 54 in the double-digit percentage range: “Kelly File” and “On The Record,” scheduled at 9 p.m. and 7 p.m., respectively, have seen those ratings increase 29%, while “Hannity,” now airing at 10 p.m., has seen its ratings in the demo increase 26%, all when compared to the third quarter of 2013.

Kelly's "competition" comes from MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, HLN's Dr. Drew, and CNN's Piers Morgan. To identify one specific example, on November 18 Kelly outdrew the other three by 405,000 to 362,000 in the 25-54 demographic (Maddow was the highest of the other three at 200,000), and by 2.494 million to 1.335 million overall (Maddow, at 768,000, less than one-third of Kelly's audience, was also the highest of the three others).

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2013/12/03/variety-megyn-kelly-mopping-floor-her-time-slot-competition-hannity-and-

[flowers]

I am pleasantly surprised by her show. i really like it. I was a bit skeptical at first. I always forget Greta is on at 4 my time. I don't even bother to watch Hannity much anymore.

[Rapunzel]

And Fox and Friends is doing great with Elizabeth Hasselback and remember we had it told to us on "good authority" it was definitely going to tank because conservative Hasselback is an "airhead." /s

[NavyCanDo]

I am pleasantly surprised by her show. i really like it. I was a bit skeptical at first. I always forget Greta is on at 4 my time. I don't even bother to watch Hannity much anymore.

Same here exactly.   Megyn has a great show, and she is far better at arguing her point than Hannity ever was and she doesn't let the guest take control. Hannity was often thrown back on his heels by some of his guest and an objective viewer would often have to say he loses debates with more prepared liberal guest.  His show has gotten so bad that now he is relying on panels of around 20 people that he throws" raise your hand" questions at and letting them control the flow of the show. When he does have one on one guest, they turn into shouting matches and I find that annoying, and like I saaid he loses many of these battles just because he is not prepared. I like Hannity himself. He is a good person. But he just does not have what it takes to sustain a good show.

[happyg]

I agree, NavyCanDo . Hannity is not fast on his feet in many debates. Kelly is quick on her feet, and her comebacks are direct. There are so many times I want to scream at Sean and tell him what to say. One of his problems that he talks too much. If he would actually take time to let the other person talk, he would have time to come up with a good retort.

[Relic]

When he does have one on one guest, they turn into shouting matches and I find that annoying, and like I said he loses many of these battles just because he is not prepared. I like Hannity himself. He is a good person. But he just does not have what it takes to sustain a good show.

I don't watch much "news" on TV anymore. The 2012 election took a lot out of me, and showed me that most of those people are simply entertainers. I'm with you, Hannity seems like a nice guy, but he's not a heavyweight. He seems shrill and adheres to talking points. Hannity seems to lack depth.

[Bigun]

I don't watch much "news" on TV anymore. The 2012 election took a lot out of me, and showed me that most of those people are simply entertainers. I'm with you, Hannity seems like a nice guy, but he's not a heavyweight. He seems shrill and adheres to talking points. Hannity seems to lack depth.

All Hannity does is parrot what the REAL heavyweights have already said but somehow he DOES draw an audience so maybe some conservative thought is getting through.