Fox News is still dealing with the fallout of “parting ways” with top-rated host Tucker Carlson. As the network continues to collapse in the ratings, far-left outlet MSNBC continues to take advantage and topped Fox News in several key demographics.
“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,” Mediaite reported.
Fox News cable news ratings have collapsed in the key 25-54 age demographic after the network took Carlson off the air in late April.
Things have gotten so bad at the network that longtime host Sean Hannity has fallen behind MSNBC’s Joy Reid in the key demo.
Liberal reporter Glenn Greenwald 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.”
Hannity’s primetime show has been feeling the heat since Carlson was abruptly ousted.
Hannity’s show, which got up to nearly 2 million in the final weeks of May, has fallen to around a 1.7 million average in June so far. For comparison, Hannity’s primetime show averaged around 3 million each night before Carlson’s departure.
After dominating cable news ratings for years, the Fox News Channel has been knocked from its top perch left-wing rival MSNBC in key time slots.
“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.
Fox News also recently announced its brand new prime-time lineup and revealed who will be taking over Tucker Carlson’s old time slot.
In a press release, the network revealed that Jesse Watters will take the 8 p.m. slot, directly replacing Carlson. Laura Ingraham will move from 10 p.m. to 7 p.m., Sean Hannity will stay at 9 p.m. and Greg Gutfeld will move to 10 p.m. Longtime news anchor Trace Gallagher will move up to 11 p.m.
“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,” Mediaite reported.
“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.”
The statement concluded: “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.”
