OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
For now, it remains unclear to most people — and certainly to fans of Tucker Carlson — why Fox News decided to terminate his show and “part ways” with him, but clearly, it wasn’t a great business decision, at least so far.
Not only was Carlson the network’s ratings king, but he managed to pull record numbers of the key 25-54-year-old demographic that is so important to advertisers.
But on Monday, the first night a fill-in host took the helm during his regular prime-time slot, that key demographic fell dramatically as about 1 million fewer people tuned in.
Show Buzz Daily data show that Carlson’s replacement program, hosted by anchor Brian Kilmeade, “garnered fewer ratings in the key age demo on its first night compared to Carlson’s average a week prior on Monday, April 17,” The Daily Caller reported.
Based on the data, the program received a rating of 0.24 among the 25-54 age group, whereas Carlson’s show obtained a higher rating of 0.37 in the same demographic on April 17th. With regard to overall viewership, the program had an average of almost 2.6 million viewers, which is lower than Carlson’s average of about 3.7 million viewers.
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
When it aired on Friday, April 21, Carlson’s final episode drew in a total of 2.65 million viewers, surpassing the viewership of CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” and MSNBC’s “All In With Chris Hayes.” According to Adweek, in 2022, “Tucker Carlson Tonight” ranked second in total cable news viewership with 3.3 million viewers in total. The program’s ratings were second only to Fox News’ non-primetime program, “The Five.”
“Fox News has consistently dominated cable news in ratings in recent years, prevailing over its main competitors CNN and MSNBC. Carlson’s show repeatedly topped the network’s shows by exceeding multi-million total viewership,” The Daily Caller noted further.
It’s not likely that Carlson will be out of work for long, however. Soon after the news of his firing scorched the Internet, Glenn Beck — a former Fox News host and the founder of Blaze Media — offered Carlson a job with his company.
“We would love to have you here. You won’t miss a beat. And together, the two of us will tear it up. Just tear it up. I think that will kill Fox, I really do. I know so many people that – you know – still kind of like Fox. And they watch the other shows. But they’re like, ‘Tucker, Tucker is the only one that I really trust,” Beck said on his radio show while discussing the news ouster Carlson’s ouster from Fox News.
The host concluded, “You lose Tucker Carlson, I think that really kills [Fox]. Where are you going to get the truth? Tucker was the only guy out there that I felt was in the mainstream media that was telling America the truth.”
Fox News' goodbye message to @TuckerCarlson sure looks like what they said when I left. I have a feeling this will KILL Fox. pic.twitter.com/oOFXnv4sKp
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) April 24, 2023
Soon after news of his firing, former OAN reporter Christina Bobb said Carlson will “keep his influence in whatever he does” after leaving Fox News.
“Carlson is so good at what he does,” she said in a podcast posted Tuesday night. “He’s got such a big following…. Anything he ends up doing will be bigger and better.”
She said Fox News had “pushed out their viewers” and reacted with: “Oh no! He’s one of our best voices with this big platform.”
On Monday, former President Donald Trump offered his own thoughts to Newsmax on “the Tucker situation.”
“You don’t know if it was a firing,” he told the far-right rival to Fox News now gaining viewers. “Maybe he left because he wasn’t being given his free rein — he wants his free rein.”
The New York Times reported following the dismissal that Lachlan Murdoch, the chief executive of Fox Corporation, and Suzanne Scott, chief executive of Fox News Media, decided on Friday night to fire Carlson. Scott informed Carlson on Monday morning of the decision.
“The power that Mr. Carlson, 53, wielded outside Fox News could not insulate him from a growing list of troubles inside the network related to his conduct on and off the air, some of which had been grating on Mr. Murdoch and his father, Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of Fox Corporation, who co-founded the network in 1996, according to the two people with knowledge of the company’s decision,” the Times added.
