Bret Baier's Ratings Show Smooth Transition From Brit Hume

For anyone wondering whether Brit Hume's departure would slow the "Special Report" ratings, the answer is a resounding no.

"Special Report with Bret Baier," which debuted Monday night, scored an impressive 1,852,000 total viewers, and 409,000 in the coveted Adults 25-54 demographic. For a comparison, in December Hume averaged 1,699,000 million total viewers and 313,000 in the 25-54 demo, and for the last six months of 2008 Hume averaged 1,497,000 total viewers and 379,000 in the 25-54 demo.

On his first night, Baier also showed no vulnerability to CNN's "Situation Room" (947,000 total, 243,000 A25-54) or or MSNBC's "1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" (551,000 total, 156,000 A25-54). In fact, "Special Report" beat both its main competitors combined.

Watch Baier's sign-off from his first night below:

Comments

[Raco]

I watch both Baier and Shuster.  Shuster is by far my favorite MSNBC personality. B.B. looks like a straight-up news guy. Don't watch Olbermann, Maddow, B.O or Hannity. Sick of the simple minded, Repuke, Democrap stuff. I much prefer the NHL in prime time. One of the five Americans watching hockey each night, I'm sure.

[maxfax]

Who?

[MarvBitesBack]

Bret, like Brit, continues the Fox tradition of fair and balanced reporting -- not to be confused with the opinion oriented news segments on Fox which are tilted to the right, albeit not even close to the leftward tilt of CNN & MSDNC.

[Eyewideopen]

Please

[LeftRight]

First, CNN is not left leaning.

Second, MSNBC IS left leaning, but not by a lot!

And Third, while there ARE some stories that I've seen reported on Fox which were straight reporting of the news, the VAST majority of what's shown on Fox is EXTREME right wing!! Even going so far as WHAT they report they are the tools of the RNC!

[MarvBitesBack]

LOL. Did you have a straight face when you wrote those first two sentences?!

[FaceYourFears]

I like Bret, he's so much better than Brit....He and Shep are the only "fair and balanced" commentators on Fox.

[Davwbaird]

So What!

[Velociti]

He's one of the few good people on Fox News. Honestly, check him out.

[Dace]

Hate is alive and thriving - great news!!! And I guess we can look for Blago hair for 2009.

[listentome]

I will admit that Bret is one of the very, very, very few folks on Fox that for the most part is impartial in reporting the news. I can actually listen to him without being filled with hate. But, before anyone reads too much in the numbers you must remember that the other competitors are more people friendlier and balanced which means that of course their numbers would be split because of the option to go from one to the other. Fox and only Fox attracts a segment of society that is so one-sided in their views that their numbers don't have to be split among competitors. They occasionally get the benefit of someone like me who tunes in briefly to see if they are spewing more hate about someone or anyone who is not a conservative.

[RODERICK098]

That is an excellent point -some decent people watching a train wreck plus k.k.k. All the othere decnt folk are watching the other networks which total more than theirs.

[liarsclub75]

His hair looks like putty.

[scorpioleidy]

Call me crazy - but I actually like this guy! I'm a Dem - make no mistake! - but I started watching his show by accident while channel surfing sometime last year. Compared to all the other faux hosts on Fox, I find him the least objectionable, by far.

[jukesgrrl]

Which would indicate to me that FOX is finally getting the message that Americans are a little less conservative than they would like to believe.

[FaceYourFears]

True...both he and Shepard Smith.

[vote-obama]

so the miseducation of the simple minded fixed news viewer continues...what else is new.

[john stevens 26]

No, it just means that more viewers want a conservative - fair/balanced approach to the news, not like the last 50 years of liberal communist hate filled bias as we continue to endure to this day....

[TomInJax]

If your name is any clue, you're 26, and if so, WTF do you know about the last 50 years of journalism. You're just old enough to have been brain washed by Faux News for the last 10 years. Pity you. You never got to see Cronkite. A true Journalist in every since of the word. Go to You Tube and find some old Edward R Murrow.

And what is it about these FOX anchors. They all look, I don't know, plastic? Who the hell does their makeup. Is that make-up artist that did Nixon in the debates still around?

[boonjava]

uh.. nice try.

[LeftRight]

While I will admit that many reporters tend to have a slight liberal lean to their politics, they do their best (or at least they used to do their best....) to ensure that nothing like that came through. In addition to that, you must ALSO consider the political viewpoints of their bosses, the editors and publishers, and everyone else in the booth. THEY are the ones that choose which stories get out, and they also tend to have a more pronounced CONSERVATIVE tilt. This means that your comment about the "communist liberal media" is an utter lie, and everyone who actually does any research about the issue knows it!

[john stevens 26]

Go Brett, continue to whoop up on your lib competitors!!