According to Mediaite, examining the ratings of Fox News primetime shows an average loss of one million viewers per night since firing Tucker Carlson on April 24.
Fox News spokesperson responded to the Carlson-linked drop in primetime ratings, saying that the network is still the No. 1 cable news channel.
“For more than 21 years, Fox News Channel has been cable news’ most-watched network in all categories with more Democrats, Independents, and Republicans now tuning in than either CNN or MSNBC,” Fox News said at the time. “Attracting more than 50 percent of the cable news-viewing audience with the top 12 programs in cable news, Fox News’ powerhouse team of journalists, analysts, and opinion hosts are trusted more by viewers than any other news source.”
Epoch Times provides the numbers.
In the four weeks before Carlson left the network, Fox News’ primetime hours averaged some 2.6 million total viewers. But in the four weeks after his departure, those hours are down to just 1.6 million viewers.
…( a Fox News spokesperson responded to the Carlson-linked drop in primetime ratings, saying that the network is still the No. 1 cable news channel.
That might be true, but it’s as relevant as saying it’s raining today. Advertisers do not purchase Television based on where an advertiser stands in ratings compared to its competitors. It’s based on Cost Per Thousand Viewers (CPM). Many advertisers, especially the major ones, get a CPM guarantee. Based on the fewer people watching a show, the CPM is higher than guaranteed, like Fox primetime. In those cases, the network has to give advertisers free commercials. The number of TV commercials is limited because they are on time. As there is a finite amount of time, i.e., there will always be 60 minutes per hour. Since Fox can only run a certain amount of commercials during that finite amount of time, every free commercial takes the place of a paid one. Thus Fox will lose that income EVERY NIGHT, but hey, they are still the number one network compared to other networks.
Some of those one million missing viewers have gone to Newsmax, and as expected, none have gone to CNN or MSNBC.
Fox hasn’t named a permanent replacement for Tucker. So far, Tucker’s time slot has been replaced by a series of weekly rotating hosts. None have generated Tucker-like ratings.
The news network must have watched Harry Potter movies too many times. Like Voldemort, Tucker has become “He who shall not be named.”
Fox News employees have told me privately that all on-air talent have been banned from saying the name “Tucker” on air.
— Chadwick Moore (@Chadwick_Moore) May 29, 2023
