Fox News is still dealing with the repercussions of “severing ties” with the esteemed broadcaster Tucker Carlson. MSNBC has surpassed Fox News in a number of significant demographics as a result of the network’s ratings decline.
“MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow led prime time on Monday with 2.53 million total viewers and 212,000 viewers in the key 25-54 age demographic. Maddow’s haul was enough to boost MSNBC’s prime-time average to number one in total viewers. MSNBC won prime time with 1.9 million total viewers, while Fox News came in second with 1.73 million total viewers. Fox won the demo, however, with 178,000 viewers to CNN’s 161,000 and MSNBC’s 160,000,” according to Mediaite.
Following Carlson’s dramatic departure from the airwaves in late April, cable news ratings for Fox News have plummeted among the key 25-to-54-year-old demographic.
Due to the network’s deterioration, Joy Reid of MSNBC has surpassed Sean Hannity in the crucial demo.
Reporter Glenn Greenwald, a liberal, tweeted: “The 8 pm slot on Fox with Tucker was not only consistently number 1 in the key demo – 25-54 – but routinely had 400,000 viewers or more. Without Tucker, it’s crashed to worse-than-MSNBC levels: barely 100,000 people. Hannity is in 14th place, behind Joy Reid! A total collapse. It’s so clear Fox’s firing of Tucker was not just financially driven, bereft of the Murdochs’ and Paul Ryan’s ideological goals. Firing Tucker destroyed its prime-time ratings. There’s no argument Tucker’s twice-a-week Twitter postings compete with Fox. They want him silenced.”
Since Carlson’s dismissal without ceremony, Hannity’s primetime program has been criticized.
The audience for Hannity’s program, which crested at approximately 2 million viewers in the final weeks of May, has decreased to an average of approximately 1.7 million so far in June. Prior to Carlson’s exit, Hannity’s primetime program consistently drew approximately 3 million viewers per night.
After years of dominating cable news ratings, left-leaning rival MSNBC has dethroned Fox News Channel during prime time.
“Nielsen data regarding the week ending this past Sunday was shared on Twitter on Tuesday by A.J. Katz, a reporter specializing in the cable news business. According to the data, Fox’s primetime 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET viewership averaged 1,504,429. The average viewership for the more left-leaning MSNBC over the same time frame averaged 1,520,857, narrowly beating out the conservative network that has long been a leader in cable news viewership,” Newsweek reported.
Recently, Fox News unveiled its brand-new prime-time schedule and named the individual who will replace Tucker Carlson.
In a press release, the network announced that Jesse Watters would replace Tucker Carlson at 8 p.m. Greg Gutfeld will replace Sean Hannity at 9 p.m., while Laura Ingraham will relocate from 10 p.m. to 7 p.m. Longtime news anchor Trace Gallagher will begin at 11 p.m.
According to Mediaite,“A rotating cast of hosts stepped in to replace Carlson after he was abruptly fired from Fox News one week after it reached a $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over the airing of 2020 election lies. The ratings dipped significantly from the Carlson era, who in his seven years helming Tucker Carlson Tonight emerged as a controversial but popular host at the network.”
“Watters joined Fox News two decades ago, working his way up from production assistant to on-air commentator on Bill O’Reilly’s hit prime-time show,” the outlet added. “Perhaps the biggest shake-up is moving the top-rated late-night show Gutfeld! from 11 PM to an hour earlier.”
“In recent years, he has become one of the most-watched personalities on the network, as co-host of the top-rated show The Five and solo host of his own program Watters’ World, which debuted in the 7 p.m. slot in 2022,” the statement concluded.