JD Vance may have given Gutfeld! a full hour, but he didn’t give Fox News’ late-night-styled show a ratings record—or anything close to it.
The vice president’s June 16 appearance averaged 3.480 million total viewers in Nielsen live-plus-three-day data. That was good for a 7.47 share and ranked as the show’s 19th most-watched episode of the calendar year to date.
Those are hardly bad numbers. But for a full-hour appearance by the sitting vice president—and coming on the same day he helped The View log its best ratings in two years—they amount to something closer to a shrug than a surge.
The younger-viewer numbers were even less flattering. Vance’s appearance drew 191,000 adults 18-49, significantly below the show’s average in the demo. In fact, out of 112 Gutfeld! episodes so far this calendar year, the Vance episode ranked 90th among adults 18-49.
The performance certainly pales in comparison to Donald Trump‘s September 2024 appearance, which averaged nearly 5.8 million total viewers in Nielsen live-plus-three-day data, making it the most-watched episode in the show’s history. That episode also drew 532,000 adults 18-49.
Vance appeared on Gutfeld! to promote his new book, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, and to discuss the “current state of the country and other news of the day,” per Fox News’ pre-show announcement. The episode featured Vance alongside Fox News personalities Kat Timpf, Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery, and George “Tyrus” Murdoch.
The booking was still a notable one for Gutfeld!, which has made a point of positioning itself as late night’s right-flank counterprogramming. Sitting vice presidents do not typically spend full hours on late-night shows, comedy panel or otherwise.
But as a measure of whether Vance can deliver anything resembling Trump-sized tune-in for Fox News’ 10 p.m. entry, the answer—at least this time—was no.
Wow. The dismissiveness is staggering. LOL. When was the last time that the Jimmys had those kind of ratings outside of sports as a lead-in? Exactly.