“On the Holmes Front,” with Frank Holmes
The new ratings are in, and Fox News executives are probably crying into their Bud Lights.
Since Fox News decided to “part ways” with Tucker Carlson in April, it’s ratings have been going the way of CNN.
The top-rated network in cable news has seen a massive dip in viewership since it unceremoniously pulled Carlson’s show out of its prime time line-up.
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Fox News was riding high for the last several years with Tucker Carlson hosting the number one show on the number one network.
Fox News drew an average of 2.09 million viewers in prime time between January and April of this year, peaking with Carlson and slowly trailing off through the night.
Then, with no announcement or warning, Fox News announced on Monday, April 24, that the last episode of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” had already aired on Friday, April 21.
It renamed the show “Fox News Tonight,” with a rotating set of hosts like Brian Killmeade, Will Cain, and Trey Gowdy. Rumors swirled that network execs would move Sean Hannity into the 8 p.m. show, or replace Carlson with former White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany…but none of their changes took with viewers—and the results have been a disaster for the Murdoch family business.
The results just came in for May—the first full month without Tucker on the air—and they’re a nightmare.
How bad? It depends on which set of numbers you follow…but both are terrible news for the new Fox News.
At a minimum. Fox News has lost one out of every three viewers who watched it—and that’s the lower estimate.
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That means 670,000 people—two-thirds of one million people—tuned out Fox News in one month, mostly over one show.
It also shows they’ve fallen almost to the level of MSNBC—which had 1.16 million viewers in the same time frame. So, Fox News lost at least a third of its audience over one management decision.
But things are actually worse than that.
“Tucker Carlson Tonight” was far-and-away the most popular show on Fox News—and it had the audience to prove it.
Tucker Carlson averaged 3.2 million viewers a night during his last few weeks—from the exclusive January 6 tapes, to questions about Ray Epps, to his stand-alone opposition to America getting bogged down in another endless war in Ukraine.
“Fox News Tonight” is averaging 1.49 million viewers a night—losing 53 percent of its audience for the hour in one month!
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But the numbers show things are even worse than that.
Advertisers look at overall viewership, but they pay the most attention to how many people who tune in are between the ages of 18 and 49. Those are the viewers who have the most—or are most free with—their discretionary income, a prime target for commercials. Advertisers call these the number of viewers in the demographic, or “in the demo” for short.
Fox News lost two out of three of them in May.
The number of viewers “in the demo” fell by an incredible 62% year-on-year. It’s now practically running neck-and-neck with MSNBC (120,000 viewers in the demo) and even CNN (113,000).
And when CNN has an off-day, it loses to the name that really scares Fox News: Newsmax.
Congressman Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., recently sat in as host of Newsmax’s 10 p.m. show, “Greg Kelly Reports”…and he beat CNN in the ratings.
Gaetz drew 282,000 viewers, while Anderson Cooper pulled in only 249,000.
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And the show Newsmax scheduled to run head-to-head with Tucker at 8 p.m., “Eric Bolling The Balance” saw its audience increase 82% among total viewers, and 66% among viewers age 35-64—the heart of the key “in the demo” crowd.
“This is delicious,” said former Trump trade adviser, and Tucker Carlson regular, Peter Navarro. “Newsmax MUST continue to drain Fox News which has Never Trump clowns like Brian Kilmeade, Bret Baier, Karl Rove nipping at DonaldTrump.”
This is delicious. @newsmax MUST continue to drain @foxnews which has Never Trump clowns like @briankilmeade @BretBaier @KarlRove nipping at @realDonaldTrump #cutfoxcordhttps://t.co/3aqeJ7zhWd
— Peter Navarro (@RealPNavarro) May 26, 2023
A third-place Newsmax scares first-place Fox.
“They’re terrified. They don’t know what to do,” former Fox News prime time anchor Megyn Kelly told Fox’s closest conservative rival, Newsmax. “Fox is not the monopoly it used to be.”
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Fox News’ status as the number one cable news network anchored by “Tucker Carlson Tonight”—and now it’s viewers are drifting away.
“Fox is at the point of no return. Do you still watch the network?” asked former Trump adviser and talk show host Sebastian Gorka this week.
Fox is at the point of no return. Do you still watch the network?https://t.co/7VRMUTeii4
— Sebastian Gorka DrG (@SebGorka) May 30, 2023
Fox News dumped conservatives, and conservatives have returned the favor.
Frank Holmes is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”