Earlier this week, Fox News made a surprising announcement it would “part ways” with its most popular host, Tucker Carlson. However, Fox News has plummeted in ratings since ousting Carlson.
According to reports from The Federalist, key demographic ratings (based on viewers aged 25-54) were released yesterday from Tuesday night’s programming. The ratings indicate that every show on Fox News during the evening slots significantly dropped in numbers. “The Five” was down 7 percent, Brett Baier’s “Special Report” was down 23 percent, “Jesse Watters Primetime” was down 35 percent, “Hannity” was down 44 percent, and “The Ingraham Angle” was down 20 percent. Tucker Carlson’s flagship 8 p.m. slot, which Brian Kilmeade now occupies, saw the most significant impact, with ratings down nearly 70 percent compared to last week.
Following Tucker’s departure, Fox Corporation’s stock price also tanked, erasing nearly $1 billion in market value on the stock market. Business Insider reported:
Fox Corporation stock fell as much as 5% on Monday and erased $962 million in market value after it was announced that Fox News Media had parted ways with its host Tucker Carlson.
Class A shares of the media company recovered slightly and were trading at $32.65, down almost 3% at 1:32 p.m. ET.
On the first night without Tucker Carlson, Monday, April 24, Fox News Channel saw a significant reduction in viewership. When comparing Monday’s viewership to typical ratings, Fox lost almost 1 million viewers without Tucker Carlson. The Hollywood Reporter wrote about the drop in ratings:
Unsurprisingly, Fox News ratings suffered Monday night without the channel’s most watched host.
After the surprise of Fox News and Tucker Carlson “agree[ing] to part ways” on Monday, the network’s 8 p.m. hour had a significantly smaller audience Monday night. The debut of Fox News Tonight, hosted by Brian Kilmeade (the first in a series of rotating hosts), pulled in just under 2.6 million viewers — about 21 percent below the average for Tucker Carlson Tonight (3.3 million viewers) over the past eight Mondays.
The statement released by Fox on Monday stated:
FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.
Mr. Carlson’s last program was Friday April 21st. Fox News Tonight will air live at 8 PM/ET starting this evening as an interim show helmed by rotating FOX News personalities until a new host is named.
FOX News Media operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOX News Digital, FOX News Audio, FOX News Books, the direct-to-consumer streaming services FOX Nation and FOX News International and the free ad-supported television service FOX Weather. Currently the number one cable network, FNC has been the most watched television news channel for more than 21 consecutive years, while FBN ranks among the top business channels on cable. Fox Corporation owns FOX News Media, which reaches nearly 200 million people monthly.
Many see Tucker Carlson as the face of conservative commentary, willing to report on topics many mainstream figures shy away from. All of the early indicators show the decision to “part ways” with Carlson was terrible for Fox New’s ratings and Fox Corporation’s finances. However, Fox News is still the number one cable news network, but we will see if they hold on to that accolade in Tucker’s absence.
"*" indicates required fields