On Monday, Fox News announced the replacement of its former host Tucker Carlson. Jesse Watters will now occupy the 8 p.m. time slot that housed Carlson’s show before he departed from Fox News in late April. Watters will have big shoes to fill, considering Carlson was the most popular host on the channel, and ratings have tanked since he left the network.
Recent reports indicated that Fox News “overhauled” its primetime schedule. Now Laura Ingraham will air at 7 p.m., Jesse Watters will take Carlson’s former 8 p.m. slot, Sean Hannity will come on at 9 p.m., Greg Guttfeld will air at 10 p.m., and Trace Gallagher will occupy the 11 p.m. hour.
Just in: Fox News overhauls primetime
Laura Ingraham at 7p
Jesse Watters takes over Tucker timeslot at 8
Hannity at 9
Greg Gutfeld moves to 10
Trace Gallagher does news hour at 11p— Brian Steinberg (@bristei) June 26, 2023
Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott released a very corporate, bureaucratic statement regarding to the new lineup of programs and hosts. She claimed the different personalities would drive success for the news channel for the foreseeable future. She also pointed out that Fox News has dominated the cable news market for over two decades, but the ratings trajectory without Tucker is questionable.
“Fox News Channel has been America’s destination for news and analysis for more than 21 years and we are thrilled to debut a new lineup. The unique perspectives of Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity, and Greg Gutfeld will ensure our viewers have access to unrivaled coverage from our best-in-class team for years to come,” Scott said.
However, the aftermath of Carlson’s departure illustrates that he was a significant driving force at the network. The American Tribune reported in early June how Fox News lost nearly one-third of its viewership, almost half of the loss coming from the key advertising demographic. Additionally, reports also came in earlier this month that Fox News’ weekly ratings fell below MSNBC’s for the first time in nearly five years without Tucker Carlson.
Fox News used to be the unquestionable leader of the cable news market, leaving competitors such as MSNBC and CNN far behind their dominant ratings. Now MSNBC jumped ahead in ratings, ruining the 120-week winning streak in primetime ratings that Fox News had enjoyed when Tucker Carlson was a part of the network.
Conservative commentator Matt Walsh weighed in on the plummeting Fox News ratings, stating, “For 120 straight weeks, Fox News was the most-watched cable news network in primetime. Its main competitors, MSNBC and CNN, never came close. In the key advertising demographic — people between the ages of 25 and 54 — Fox News was the undisputed leader.”
Announcing Carlson’s departure in late April, Fox News said in a statement, “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.”
However, amid Fox News’ rating woes, Tucker Carlson appears to be thriving on his new exclusive Twitter show, where some have claimed he is “more powerful” than he was on cable. Demand for Tucker’s show is through the roof, where he is attaining hundreds of millions of views on his episodes.
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