Tucker Carlson’s interview of Donald Trump that streamed on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday night wasn’t just an attempt by the former president to upstage eight Republican rivals who were debating on Fox News.
The Wall Street Journal reports it was a glaring display of the fissures in right-wing media, and the opening salvo in a fight that will test whether social-media platforms can mount a serious challenge to TV news.
Carlson and Trump, who each have grievances about Fox News, used the platform owned by Elon Musk—another convention-bucking personality—to give the cable network unprecedented competition in a big moment.
Trump Snubs GOP Debate, Joins Tucker Carlson for Interview on X https://t.co/GQ08dRIu5D
— Tom Benson (@Tombenson1) August 24, 2023
Carlson’s interview, which aired during the GOP debate on Fox News, had 236 million total view “impressions” by Wednesday afternoon. That made it Carlson’s highest tally on X, formerly known as Twitter, since his acrimonious exit from Fox in April. Two key measures of engagement, likes and reposts, were about 690,000 and about 180,000, respectively.
Nielsen on Thursday said about 12.8 million watched the Republican primary debate on Fox News and Fox Business. That was slightly better than another Fox News Republican primary debate that Trump also had skipped during the 2016 cycle, which had drawn more than 12 million viewers.
Adequately comparing Carlson’s figures to Fox News’s viewership is nearly impossible. On X, impressions account for the total number of times a post was seen, which can include multiple views by a single user, according to X’s website. TV ratings generally are the average number of viewers who tuned in to a telecast at any given time.
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