Primetime Interview On Fox A Ratings Win and Sales Ploy

Fox News Jesse Watters, Abdul El-Sayed

A Fox News interview with Michigan’s progressive Democratic Senate nominee drew 3.35 million viewers last week and beat every primetime show on ABC, NBC, and CBS, according to Nielsen. The Aug. 24 edition of Jesse Watters Primetime was also up about 15 percent from the program’s quarterly average and posted a similar lift among adults 25 to 54. Fox said clips of the interview drew more than 8 million views on social media. 

The guest was Abdul El-Sayed, a physician and former public-health official who had just won a razor-thin Democratic primary and immediately became a favorite target of conservative media. Watters pressed him on Iran, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Medicare for All, transgender athletes, and gender-affirming care for minors. The exchange turned personal when Watters asked whether El-Sayed thought it was acceptable for a parent to “slash his kid’s ding-a-ling off.” El-Sayed replied, “Are you circumcised?” Watters said yes, then objected that it was “a personal question.” 

El-Sayed argued that circumcision is also surgery on a child and that medical decisions should stay with parents, doctors, and patients. Watters called the analogy “wacky” and “sick stuff.” 

The first half-hour of the hour drew nearly 3.7 million viewers and 332,000 in the 25-to-54 demo. One report put the full-show audience near 3.4 million and said it was the top cable-news primetime telecast of August. Watters later invited El-Sayed back, while telling him on air that some of his positions would not “fly in Michigan.” 

El-Sayed won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary on Aug. 4 by fewer than 15,000 votes over Rep. Haley Stevens, a race of more than 1.5 million ballots. Backed by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, he ran on Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, and cutting U.S. military aid to Israel. He now faces Republican Mike Rogers in November. If elected, he would be the first Muslim U.S. senator. Conservative hosts have used the Fox appearance to frame him as out of step with a swing-state electorate. 

El-Sayed used it to argue that “culture war” questions distract from affordability. For Fox, booking a left-wing nominee is also a ratings and sales play. Executives argue the network’s audience is broader than its reputation. Last year, Fox Corp. advertising chief Jeff Collins told Dylan Byers at Puck that Fox News reaches more Democrats and independents than CNN and MS NOW, the rebranded MSNBC. 

The summer context helps explain why one interview mattered so much. Fox News again led weekday primetime across June through August, averaging about 2.56 million viewers and finishing ahead of NBC, ABC, and CBS. In August, The Five led cable news and Jesse Watters Primetime ranked second with about 2.87 million to 2.9 million viewers on average. Against that baseline, a 3.3-million-plus night is a spike, not a fluke.