In the first days after Tucker Carlson’s firing at Fox News, the network has seen a sharp drop in its ratings in the 8 p.m. ET hour that had been home to top-rated Tucker Carlson Tonight. On Wednesday night, Fox’s fill-in show at 8, Fox News Tonight, delivered a total audience of 1.332 million viewers, which dropped Fox into second place behind MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes, which took first place with 1.377 million viewers.
According to Mark Joyella at Forbes, For Fox News, which has dominated cable news as the most-watched network for years, the early ratings data are concerning, and will put added pressure on the network to select a permanent relacement for Carlson. Each of the shows in FNC’s prime time lineup until this week had held a firm grip on first place, so slipping behind MSNBC at 8 p.m. is noteworthy, but so is the trend: last Friday—Carlson’s last night—he drew a total audience of 2.65 million viewers. That number largely held on Monday night (2.59 million viewers), but was cut to 1.7 million viewers on Tuesday and then 1.3 million viewers Wednesday—just 50% of Carlson’s audience from five days earlier.
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Fox News also lost among adults 25-54, the key demographic valued by advertisers. On Wednesday night, Fox News Tonight drew 124,000 viewers, which put Fox in third place behind All In with Chris Hayes (first place with 167,000 viewers) and CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 (second place with 139,000 viewers). For MSNBC, Wednesday night’s ratings represented All In’s first win among total viewers since February 2021 and the first time it won in the key demo since January 2019. It was the first time the show had ever won both total viewers and viewers 25-54.
The 8 p.m. win helped push MSNBC to an overall win in the key demo across prime time, delivering an average audience of 153,000 viewers, ahead of Fox News (146,000 viewers) and CNN (125,000 viewers). Fox News still won prime time overall in terms of total viewers with 1.494 million viewers, followed by MSNBC (1.343 million viewers) and CNN (566,000 viewers). Newsmax, the conservative network that has filled its prime time hours covering Carlson’s ouster at Fox, climbed to 418,000 viewers in prime. Newsmax’s 8 p.m. show, hosted by former Fox News host Eric Bolling drew a total audience of 510,000 viewers and suggested that some conservative viewers angered by Carlson’s firing may have sampled Newsmax.
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