A few months ago, Tucker Carlson was the weekend co-host of Fox & Friends. Now he’s the host of one of the highest rated hours on cable television.

In its debut week, Tucker Carlson Tonight — which moved from 7 PM ET to the 9 PM hour on January 9th following Megyn Kelly’s departure — averaged 3 million viewers and 576,000 in the 25-54 demographic. This placed it in the top ten in all of basic cable.

In comparison with how The Kelly File fared in that time slot in 2016, Fox News experienced an increase of 10% in total viewership and 12% in the key demo.

When compared to how Kelly did at this time last year, Carlson is up 21% in total viewers and a remarkable 52% in the 25-54 demographic.

Meanwhile, Tucker’s replacement in the 7 PM hour, Martha MacCallum, has also fared well in her debut. First 100 Days with Martha MacCallum, which started on January 16th, delivered 3.1 million viewers and 576,000 in the demo. That is an increase of 43% in total viewership and 66% in the demographic from this time last year, when Greta Van Susteren’s On the Record was in the time slot. Van Susteren is currently on MSNBC, with her 6 PM ET program debuting last week.

For the week, Fox News placed second in basic cable in primetime, finishing behind only ESPN, which broadcast college football’s national championship game. For total day viewership, Fox News was number one.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Justin Baragona on Twitter: @justinbaragona

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