The replacement show for Tucker Carlson’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” is called “Fox News Tonight.” The first night of it was hosted by Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade, and it went poorly. Very poorly.
In fact, according to ratings watcher “Show Buzz Daily,” Fox News Tonight did even worse with the key 25-54 demographic that advertisers want to see than Rachel Maddow on MSNBC:
The aftereffects of one of the most consequential days in recent cable news history started to be felt, as Fox News saw its ratings in the 8PM slot fall from TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT’s 0.24/0.37/2.4M last Monday, to FOX NEWS TONIGHT’s 0.15/0.24/2.6M, lower in major demos than MSNBC’s RACHEL MADDOW SHOW at 0.15/0.29/2.8M (although it was beaten in some demos by THE FIVE at 0.16/0.27/3.2M), with CNN’s SITUATION ROOM at 0.11/0.14/800K.
Fox still did better with ratings overall in that time slot. CNN brought in 668,000 viewers. MSNBC attracted 1.97 million, and Fox News won with 2.35 million. But that’s not great news for Fox News because 1) it’s about a million people lower than Tucker’s 3.3 million usual, and 2) it’s the 25-54 advertising demographic that really matters, and they lost there…to Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, someone Tucker would routinely blow out of the water.
Cable News Rankings Mon Apr 24
1⃣@TheFive @DanaPerino @GregGutfeld @JudgeJeanine @HaroldFordJr @JasonInTheHouse*
2⃣@Maddow
3⃣@Kilmeade*
4⃣@SeanHannity
5⃣@JessePrimetime @WillCain*
6⃣@BretBaier
7⃣@IngrahamAngle
8⃣@NicolleDWallace
9⃣@AriMelber
🔟@GutfeldFox! pic.twitter.com/XI7MP5SXSz— RoadMN 📈 (@RoadMN) April 25, 2023
So, Kilmeade’s sorry performance stands in stark contrast to Tucker’s performance as compared to Maddow. Reporting on his ratings on The American Tribune in February, we said:
Though Fox News Channel’s Greg Gutfeld is frequently the FNC host who manages to bring in the biggest audience and best ratings, Tucker Carlson, darling of the New Right and nearly as funny as Gutfeld, is normally right up there with him. And this week, Tucker made a bit of history and finally won the ratings race. Mediaite reported as much, reporting:
Tucker Carlson led the ratings with 3.72 million total viewers, beating out The Five — which regularly lands atop the charts.
Jesse Watters came in third place with 3.16 million total viewers, while Sean Hannity came in fourth with 3.08 million total viewers
And, as a point of comparison, Mediaite added that “MSNBC’s top-rated show was All in with Chris Hayes which brought in 1.66 million total viewers.” So FNC crushed the woke competition yet again.
And with its hosts doing so well, Fox News Channel generally did well too, dominating the coveted 25 – 54 demographic: Fox News led the pack for yet another week with 246,000 on average compared to MSNBC’s 113,000 and CNN’s 104,000 for the day. Similarly, the primetime numbers in that demographic were equally as impressive for FNC: it again led the pack with 421,000 on average, which was lightyears ahead of MSNBC’s 148,000 and CNN’s 139,000.
What makes the results particularly problematic for Fox News is that Tucker, even if his audience was sometimes smaller than Gutfeld’s, routinely reeled in a massive number of people in the 25-54 demographic. That’s important for both current advertising dollars and winning future viewers. If his replacement can’t do so, that’s bad news for Fox News and shows the massive mistake it made in firing Tucker Carlson.
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