The gamble paid off for Vice President Kamala Harris. The Democratic presidential candidate’s contentious Wednesday evening interview on Fox News returned nice dividends from a ratings perspective. According to final numbers from Nielsen Media Research, 7.8 million total viewers and 1.126 million views in the advertiser-coveted Adults 25-54 demo viewers tuned in to see Harris on FNC.
The interview was conducted by anchor Bret Baier and aired during his 6 p.m. ET show, Special Report with Bret Baier. It proved to be Fox News’ most-watched show of the evening and the highest-rated episode of Special Report since 2020. Wednesday’s episode drew 6.7 million total viewers and 901,000 A25-54 viewers.
When the show re-aired at midnight, it was seen by an additional 1.3 million total viewers and 273,000 demo viewers.
Baier’s conversation with Harris is the highest-rated interview of the presidential election cycle since Harris took over the top of the ticket. It falls behind the ABC News interview that George Stephanopolous conducted with President Joe Biden after the first presidential debate in June, which 8.5 million people saw at that time.
Fox News’ interview also performed better than recent interviews featuring the vice president on competing networks. That list includes Harris and running mate Tim Walz‘s first interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, which brought in 6.3 million viewers; MSNBC’s interview with Harris and Stephanie Rule, which posted 1.8 million total viewers and 238,000 in the demo; her appearance on ABC’s The View, which saw 3.1 million total viewers and 357,000 in the demo; her sit-down on CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert which averaged 2.9 million total viewers and 414,000 in the demo; and, finally, Harris’ 60 Minutes interview, which saw 5.7 million total viewers.
Wednesday was a candidate event-heavy day for Fox News, as the network also aired a town hall with former President Donald Trump earlier in the day during The Faulkner Focus with Harris Faulkner.
That town hall, which was geared towards the president addressing women’s issues, was seen by 2.9 million total viewers and 338,000 demo viewers, making that particular episode the second highest-rated episode of Faulkner’s show since its launch.
The final numbers from Harris’ interview and Trump’s town hall are below. (All times ET.)
6-6:30 p.m. (Harris Interview)
FNC: 7.8 million total viewers; 1,126,000 A25-54
CNN: 805,000 total viewers; 161,000 A25-54
MSNBC: 1.6 million total viewers; 148,000 A25-54
6-7 p.m. (Special Report)
FNC: 6.7 million total viewers; 901,000 A25-54
CNN: 851,000 total viewers; 181,000 A25-54
MSNBC: 1.6 million total viewers; 150,000 A25-54