Fox News A Big Ratings Loser After Tucker Carlson Firing

(Congress Report) – It’s only been a few days since Fox News announced it was giving its most popular host on its most watched program, Tucker Carlson, the boot, and already the network is taking a massive beating, both in the ratings and financially. In fact, it’s possible this might have been the biggest mistake the network could have made, much more costly than paying the $800 million settlement to Dominion Voting Systems and keeping Carlson on board.

The program that is currently filling in the time slot in the gaping hole left by the absence of Carlson, “Fox News Tonight,” which was hosted by “Fox & Friends” host Brian Kilmeade Tuesday evening, just a day after Carlson was fired, only pulled in 1.7 million viewers, according to Stephen Battaglio of the Los Angeles Times.

For networks like CNN and MSNBC, that number would be a massive uptick in ratings compared to what they are pulling in now, but for Fox, this is a 47 percent drop from the 3.2 million viewers Carlson was bringing on a nightly basis during the first quarter of 2023.

“Carlson was fired on Monday, a stunning move that sent shockwaves through the TV news industry and made global headlines. Rupert Murdoch’s conservative network gave no reason for the departure, but it’s believed to be related to the mounting legal problems facing the organization,” Battaglio said.

“Last week, Fox News paid $787.5 million to settle a defamation suit with Dominion Voting Systems, which claims it was smeared during coverage of false allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election. Fox News also faces a lawsuit from former producer Abby Grossberg, who alleges she endured a hostile work environment while employed on Carlson’s program,” his report continued.

So now the right-of-center network is facing a pretty bumpy road, at least in the short term, as they scramble to try and find someone who can fill in permanently for Carlson and stop the major ratings bleed they’re experiencing in the wake of their extremely bad decision to fire the host.

“‘Fox News Tonight’ managed to top cable news competitors CNN and MSNBC in total audience. But the channel, typically a ratings powerhouse, suffered a rare loss in the hour among the advertiser-coveted demographic of viewers age 25 to 54,” Battagilo continued. “CNN’s Anderson Cooper won the hour in the demo with 163,000 viewers, with MSNBC’s ‘All in With Chris Hayes’ close behind at 162,000. Kilmeade scored 149,000 in the category. The ratings indicate Kilmeade won’t be giving up the morning shift anytime soon.”

And it seems that a lot of the viewers that Carlson drew in also stuck around after his program to watch some of the other shows on Fox, as they have also experienced a drop in ratings, including Sean Hannity, who averages 2 million viewers, but saw a drop in his viewership of 20 percent after the firing. “The Ingraham Angle” had 1.56 million, which was a decrease of 12 percent.

“Newsmax appeared to be the beneficiary of Carlson fans looking for an alternative. ‘Eric Bolling The Balance’ pulled in 562,000 viewers in the 8 p.m. Eastern hour, a fivefold increase over last Tuesday when Carlson was his competition (with guest Elon Musk). Bolling is a former Fox News host,” the piece said.

There were other programs on Newsmax that witnessed a doubling in their viewership from where they were a week ago.

Newsmax was also the beneficiary of boosted ratings after Fox News called the 2020 presidential election in Arizona for then-candidate Joe Biden. If you look at private communications between personalities working for the network, which became public through the Dominion case, it is pretty clear that folks were very worried about Newsmax in the weeks after the call was made.

“Dominion’s lawsuit said Fox News promoted former President Trump’s false voter-fraud allegations because it was worried about viewers defecting to Newsmax, which was far more sympathetic to Trump’s claims,” Battagilo stated.

“Fox News will be tested again, as the sharp decline in Tuesday’s ratings is a clear sign that the audience is upset. One possible fix is moving Fox News fan favorite Jesse Watters into Carlson’s time slot while auditioning hosts an hour earlier,” the article concluded.

Copyright 2023. CongressReport.com

4 COMMENTS

  1. FOX News didn’t pay squat to Dominion. Blackrock owns a large stake in Dominion, Blackrock also owns a large stake in Fox News, they sued themselves. A big political game. Follow the money to Blackrock and beyond. You’ll be shocked at what you find.

  2. You keep saying that the reports that the 2020 election was riggesd are FALSE. Where do you get your information? The people who rigged it? Trump is right in just about every situation, and he was RIGHT about the disputed election. And if media persists in carrying the dirty water for dems, you are enabling another stolen election in 2024.

  3. Fox has already released Carlson, Van Susteren, Kelly, Beck and O”Riley. Now FOX seems to have completely caved to the Dark Force. Who is next, Watters, Hannity, Ingram or Gutfeld. I am not waiting for Free Speech to go from Bad to Worst on FOX.. NEWSMAX is my new alternative GOTO.

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