Newsmax Viewership Triples in Carlson's Old Timeslot

Viewers who flocked to Fox News to watch Tucker Carlson in the 8pm ET hour appear to now be looking elsewhere. Fox News Tonight with Brian Kilmeade drew just 1.33 million viewers Wednesday night—down from 2.59 million on Monday and 1.7 million on Tuesday—topped by MSNBC's offering of All In With Chris Hayes, which drew 1.38 million viewers, per Deadline. Fox counted more than twice as many viewers, 3.05 million, the previous Wednesday with Carlson in the host chair. MSNBC also beat Fox in the key 25-54 demographic Wednesday, with 167,000 viewers compared to Fox's 124,000. That was Fox's lowest 8pm rating in the demographic in more than 20 years, as CNN points out.

A video Carlson posted on Twitter on Wednesday actually did better than Fox News Tonight, per the Washington Examiner, drawing 1.8 million views in the hour after it was posted, around the same time his show would've normally begun. The video has 21.7 million views as of this writing. Fox's "ratings slump echoes what happened at Fox following the 2020 election, when many viewers angered by the network's crucial election night declaration that Joe Biden had won Arizona followed then-President Trump's advice to seek alternatives," per the AP. Donald Trump Jr. had predicted that the loss of a "once-in-a-generation type talent" would be "disastrous" for Fox, while others promised to turn their eyes to Newsmax.

Newsmax's rating in the 8pm hour has tripled since Carlson's exit from Fox. Host Eric Bolling drew 510,000 viewers Wednesday, compared to 168,000 a week earlier, per the AP. His show did even better Monday, with 531,000 viewers, up from 146,000 on the previous Monday; Tuesday saw 562,000 viewers, up from 122,000 a week earlier. In comparison, CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 drew 643,000 viewers in the 8pm hour on Wednesday, per Deadline. "Newsmax's other prime-time shows also experienced big jumps," the New York Times reports, noting "the sharp rise in viewership can be timed almost to the minute of Fox News's announcement" of Carlson's departure. (More Tucker Carlson stories.)