Hannity expands audience with new long-interview show on Fox Nation

NEWS AND OPINION:

Fox News Channel prime-time host Sean Hannity is expanding his audience. He is hosting a new interview show for Fox Nation — the network’s online outreach.

The new program, called “Sean,” premiered at the site on Tuesday.

The series features in-depth sit-down interviews with noteworthy guests from the realms of sports, entertainment and politics. The first episode featured iconic actor, writer and director Sylvester Stallone and his wife, Jennifer Flavin Stallone, an entrepreneur and model.

“Sean’s signature political commentary has advanced the cultural conversation while connecting with the Fox News Media audience for more than 28 years. Fox Nation subscribers will have the opportunity to see Sean in a new setting as he conducts long-form interviews with newsmakers and celebrities, delving deep into their life journeys and the challenges and successes they have had along the way,” said Fox News President Lauren Petterson in a written statement shared with Inside the Beltway.

After this week’s debut, the second episode will feature an interview with Stephen A. Smith, the firebrand commentator and host of ESPN’s “First Take” and his podcast, “The Stephen A. Smith Show.” In episode three, Mr. Hannity will interview celebrity fitness trainer Jillian Michaels. Other guests will be announced later, the network said.

“Throughout the course of my career, I’ve had the honor of meeting the world’s most interesting people. It is often the struggles and obstacles they have overcome that makes them most captivating. I look forward to sharing these conversations with Fox Nation viewers,” Mr. Hannity said, also in a statement.

He has much to be proud of.

“Garnering the highest viewership among cable news in his timeslot, Hannity has averaged nearly 3 million viewers year-to-date, routinely placing as one of the top cable shows overall. Ranked by Talkers Magazine as the number one talk radio host in the country, Hannity also hosts an eponymous radio show on more than 730 stations where he is listened to by 20 million people a week,” Fox News said in its announcement of the new series.

197 MILLION SHOPPERS

The nation appears to be in the mood to spend some money as the holiday season takes hold — and the number of shoppers is approaching record-breaking territory.

“The five-day holiday weekend from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday saw an estimated 197 million shoppers,” according to an annual consumer survey released Tuesday by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics.

“The figure is the second highest number in the survey’s history after last year’s record of 200.4 million, and surpassed NRF’s initial expectations of 183.4 million shoppers,” the two organizations said in a review of the numbers.

This year, 126 million consumers shopped in stores, up from 121.4 million in 2023. Online shoppers totaled 124.3 million, down from 134.2 million shoppers last year.

“Black Friday remains the most popular day for both in-store and online shopping: 81.7 million consumers shopped in stores on Black Friday, up from 76.2 million last year and the highest level since the pandemic. Approximately 87.3 million shopped online, down slightly from 90.6 million in 2023,” the report said.  

“Momentum carried on throughout the weekend, as Saturday was the second highest for in-store shopping when 61.1 million consumers went to browse and buy in stores. Cyber Monday remains the second most popular day for online shopping, attracting 64.4 million consumers compared with 73.1 million in 2023,” it said.

“Consistent with last year, 86% of shoppers during the five-day period purchased gifts, spending $235 — or $8 more than 2023 — on average. The top gifts purchased during this period included clothing and accessories (bought by 49% of those surveyed), toys (31%), gift cards (27%), food and candy (23%) and personal care or beauty items (23%),” the report said.

The survey of 3,055 U.S. adults was conducted online Nov. 27-Dec. 1.

MEANWHILE IN TEXAS

Border challenges continue in the Lone Star State, and they appear to be getting more complex.

“As massive caravans of migrants continue to push northward in Mexico, foreign nationals of ’special interest’ from Middle Eastern countries are infiltrating Texas,” Texas Scorecard, an online news organization based in Austin, said in a report released Tuesday.

“Over the weekend, two large groups — one with 289 people and the other with 166 — crossed illegally into Texas. In the larger group, seven special interest aliens came from Iran. In the smaller group, five illegal aliens from Iran and Turkey were apprehended. ’Special interest’ aliens are noncitizens identified as potential threats to national security by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,” the report said.

The Texas Scorecard has more news, however.

“A new measure has been filed in the Texas House that aims to block the state’s universities from accepting funding from the Chinese, Russian, North Korean, and Iranian governments. The proposal by State Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, a Republican, would also prohibit universities from soliciting grants from governments that have provided material support to foreign terrorist organizations,” the report added.

“Texas has continually fought back against foreign influence in the state’s higher education system. Gov. Greg Abbott recently directed state entities, including funds controlled by higher education institutions, to block new investments in China and to simultaneously divest from any existing holdings tied to the Chinese Communist Party,” it said.

POLL DU JOUR

• 77% of U.S. adults think that when news organizations present news about political or social issues, they tend to favor one side.

• 22% think that news organizations “deal fairly with all sides” when presenting political or social news.

• 1% had no answer.

• 74% say that criticism of political leaders in news coverage “keeps leaders from doing things that shouldn’t be done.”

• 24% think that such criticism “keeps political leaders from doing their job.”

• 2% had no answer.

SOURCE: A Pew Research Center poll of 9,680 U.S. adults conducted online Sept. 16-22 and released Monday.

• Follow Jennifer Harper on X @HarperBulletin, on Facebook @HarperUniverse. Contact her at jharper@washingtontimes.com.