TV Ratings: Tucker Carlson Is Most-Watched

With an average total audience of four million viewers, Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson finished the week of June 8 through June 14 as the most-watched host in all of cable news, despite the decision by some advertisers to abandon his program over comments Carlson made about the Black Lives Matter movement.

Forbes reports Tucker Carlson Tonight finished ahead of FNC’s usual first-place finisher, Hannity, which ended the week in second place with 3.9 million viewers, followed by The Ingraham Angle (3.5 million total viewers) according to ratings data compiled by Nielsen.

Last week, Carlson drew criticism for remarks he made about Black Lives Matter, saying “this may be a lot of things, this moment we are living through, but it is definitely not about black lives, and remember that when they come for you. And at this rate, they will.”

Several companies responded by pulling advertising from Carlson’s show, including the Walt Disney Company DIS, T-Mobile, Papa John’s and Poshmark. Asked on Twitter whether the company supported the kind of language Carlson was using, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert responded, saying “it definitely is not. Bye-bye Tucker Carlson!”

This is ground Fox News has covered before, as the network’s high-profile prime time hosts have occasionally waded into controversy leading to advertiser boycotts that ultimately did not deter the network’s intensely loyal viewers. In fact, Fox News, through a spokesperson, says that all national advertising dollars and ads were moved to other programs on the network, with no net loss of ad dollars.

Among viewers 25-54, the demographic group favored by advertisers, Carlson remained on top with 680,000—the largest audience in cable news. Carlson was followed by Sean Hannity (633,000 viewers) and Laura Ingraham (621,000 viewers).