NewsNation’s Katie Pavlich Takes on Fox News Host Greg Gutfeld with New Show
When Katie Pavlich launches her new 10 p.m. show on NewsNation on Monday night, she will be taking on a unique competitor: the guy who gave her a start in the TV business.
At an earlier time, Pavlich, then working for the conservative site Townhall.com, was trying to network at an annual CPAC conference, and saw Fox News Channel host Greg Gutfeld and several associates. As she moved closer to try and meet him in a crowded room, she overheard his group getting ready to leave, because it was hard to get a bartender’s attention. Pavlich saw an opportunity and vowed to get the group beers. As a result, she was invited to appear on “Red Eye,” a wee-hours program Gutfeld hosted between 2007 and 2015.
Now she will be vying for audience at the same time Gutfeld hosts his eponymous program on Fox News Channel.
“I run in my own race,” says Pavlich, during a recent interview, adding: “We are going to put on the best show we can every single night.”
Pavlich’s viewership isn’t likely to match Gutfeld’s, as Fox News commands the biggest audience in cable news, but NewsNation, owned by Nexstar Meida, is working to stay competitive. The network has overhauled its nighttime lineup by moving legal analyst and former attorney Jesse Weber into its 11 p.m. slot, preceded by Pavlich’s opinion-driven 10 p.m. hour. The schedule recalibration shows News Nation offering hours that aim more squarely at viewers who identify as liberal or conservative. Chris Cuomo, who tends to win favor among the blue-state crowd but can display a maverick streak, continues to anchor at 8 p.m.
“NewsNation is the place where all are welcome…but tested. That’s why we are growing and that is what my show is all about,” says Cuomo. “I look forward to seeing how Katie and Jesse add to the mix.” On Tuesday, Pavlich will add something significant: an interview with President Donald Trump.
Executives hope the new anchors can lure new crowds. While NewsNation’s viewership grew in 2025, its ratings are smaller compared to its more established rivals, which include Fox News, MS NOW and CNN. In 2025, News Nation captured an average of 108,000 viewers in primetime and 13,000 among viewers between 25 and 54, the demographic most coveted by advertisers in news programming.
Cuomo and Pavlich have bona fides with specific audiences, but Weber says he wants to be a news hound. While 11 p.m. is often seen as the end of the day “the news is not slowing down at that hour,” says Weber, during a recent interview. “Some things are just ramping up. There are breaking stories, international stories. There’s an appetite for that,” says Weber. “We want to break down the big stories of the day” and help viewers plan for the day ahead.
With the debut of the new nighttime lineup, NewsNation seems to be pivoting to specific viewer needs, rather than trying to deliver similar hours across the evening. Nexstar launched the network on the back of the cable network once known as WGN America, which was an outgrowth of an era when “superstations” like Ted Turner’s TBS could serve as national outlets via cable. Nexstar’s pivot makes use of newsgathering from its dozens of stations across the country and rids itself of syndicated fare that carried substantial licensing fees.
Both Pavlich and Weber may be not be as established as regular hosts with NewsNation’s audience, but each already has cultivated a following. Weber, who will continue to work for Law & Crime and appeared on HLN, has followed true crime and legal cases for several outlets. Pavlich had been with Fox News as a contributor for years, appearing on “The Five,” the Fox Nation streaming service and other properties.
Weber thinks his later hour gives him license to explore. “We are going to experiment and try a few different things. We really want to be on the pulse of what people care about in social media and what people are feeling,” he says, while vowing to give viewers a chance to get all sides of a story without “gotcha moments.”
Pavlich says she is also mindful of connecting to a wider crowd. “I love America and I love my country unabashedly,” she says, but expects to present different viewpoints on the topics of the day. “We want to have civil, cordial discussion that is not boring,” she adds. “I think there is a difference between fighting and vehement disagreement.”
