Fox News Loses Ratings Battle After Tucker Carlson Departure as Rivals Gain
Fox News has seen a significant drop in its ratings figures following the departure of prime time host Tucker Carlson.
Network rival Newsmax saw a boost on Monday night following the announcement. MSNBC was also able to narrowly beat Fox News for viewer numbers in the 25-54 demographic during prime time, according to reports.
Carlson and Fox News "agreed to part ways" in an announcement on Monday, stunning conservatives and prompting speculation as to who will replace him in his weekly 8 p.m. time slot and what Carlson's next career move may be.
Fox News said that Tucker Carlson Tonight will be immediately replaced by a rotating cast of personalities on Fox News Tonight, the first being Fox News contributor Brian Kilmeade.
During his first show, Kilmeade said: "As you probably have heard, Fox News and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways.
"I wish Tucker the best. I'm great friends with Tucker and always will be. But right now, it's time for Fox News Tonight, so let's get started."
Kilmeade's first night in the role was watched by 2.6 million viewers on Monday compared with Carlson's average 3.3 million viewers over the last eight Mondays, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Despite the 21 percent fall in viewing figures, Fox News was still able to bring in the most viewers overall. A Joe Scarborough Presents special on MSNBC had 1.51 million viewers while CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 was seen by 728,000 people.
Newsmax saw its prime time audience numbers increase as Eric Bolling the Balance had 531,000 viewers for the 8 P.M. show.
Greg Kelly Reports at 9 P.M. also jumped to 540,000 viewers. Both saw their average audience from the first quarter of the year triple, the shows averaging 145,000 for Bolling and 141,000 for Kelly, respectively.
While Fox News maintained the highest prime time average number of viewers compared with CNN and MSNBC, it lost the battle for a key demographic, according to a Mediate report.
Prime time, encompassing shows that air between 8 P.M. and 11 P.M., saw CNN bring in 668,000 viewers. MSNBC attracted 1.97 million while Fox News led with 2.35 million.
However, for the 25-54 demographic, CNN had 133,000 viewers, with Fox News coming in second with 245,000 and MSNBC first with 247,000.
Kilmeade attempted win over Carlson fans and encouraged them to watch his stint on the show. However he was met with a series of noes from social media users who said they would not be watching if Carlson was not involved.
Newsweek has contacted Fox News via email for comment.
