After his dismissal from Fox News, Tucker Carlson may very well take his audience with him.
On Tuesday, the former prime-time cable news host uploaded a video to Twitter that was greeted with enormous interest from his devoted audience.
By Wednesday morning Eastern time, the video, in which Carlson announced his intention to begin moderating a nightly Twitter-streamed program, had received nearly 18 million views.
“Starting soon, we’ll be bringing a new version of the show we’ve been doing for the last six and a half years to Twitter,” Carlson said.
We’re back. pic.twitter.com/sG5t9gr60O
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) May 9, 2023
In the announcement, Carlson praised Twitter’s renewed commitment to free expression under Elon Musk’s ownership.
As of Wednesday morning, 77 million people had viewed the tweet containing the video.
The statistics eclipsed Carlson’s regular Fox audience, which averaged approximately 3 million viewers but was occasionally much higher.
Fans of Carlson noted that the video was virtually guaranteed to garner far more interest than any Fox News programming in the wake of the host’s dismissal.
This fascination was evident from the moment Carlson’s video was made available to the general public.
We’re back. pic.twitter.com/sG5t9gr60O
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) May 9, 2023
These numbers had to remind Fox executives of one fact that demonstrated Carlson’s popularity with the network’s target demographic:
His first video after abruptly leaving Fox News destroyed the cable news ratings of his former Fox News colleagues.
Carlson’s 2-minute video, which was published on April 26, two days after his dismissal from Fox, received more than twice as many views as the network’s prime-time lineup for the previous two days combined.
Good evening pic.twitter.com/SPrsYKWKCE
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) April 27, 2023
Carlson demonstrated the ability to almost always secure the top slot in Fox cable ratings, a position that assured him overall first place in cable news.
Many of the host’s viewers are wondering why he was fired from the network, which is ultimately controlled by media magnate Rupert Murdoch, whose empire also includes The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post.
The New York Post uploaded Carlson’s video to its own YouTube page, and the comments were overwhelmingly positive, indicating his popularity.
Some Carlson supporters accuse Fox of censoring a presenter who was unafraid to express viewpoints that corporate management deemed inconvenient.
Media analysts have predicted that Fox may attempt to muzzle Tucker Carlson by refusing to release him from his contract, thereby keeping him on the company’s payroll until after the presidential election of 2024.
Tuesday, Carlson’s attorneys sent a letter alleging Fox management of breaching its contract with the former presenter, in an attempt to prevent such a maneuver.