After dominating cable news ratings for years, Fox News Channel has been dethroned by left-leaning rival MSNBC in key time slots as a result of an ongoing viewer revolt sparked by the network’s firing of its most popular presenter, Tucker Carlson.
“Nielsen data regarding the week ending this past Sunday was shared on Twitter on Tuesday by A.J. Katz, a reporter specializing in the cable news business. According to the data, Fox’s primetime 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET viewership averaged 1,504,429. The average viewership for the more left-leaning MSNBC over the same time frame averaged 1,520,857, narrowly beating out the conservative network that has long been a leader in cable news viewership,” Newsweek reported.
“Barring a last-second data reporting change, Fox’s 120-week-long winning streak in primetime appears to be over,” Katz wrote.
New: According to Nielsen data, Fox News averaged 1,504,429 primetime viewers last week, while MSNBC averaged 1,520,857 primetime viewers.
Barring a last-second data reporting change, Fox's 120 week-long winning streak in primetime appears to be over. https://t.co/Q48BSYuFE7
— A.J. Katz (@ajkatztv) June 13, 2023
A definitive replacement for the network’s 8 p.m. ET primetime slot has not yet been announced. In the interim, the hour will be hosted by rotating guest presenters. According to Media Matters, the viewership in this time slot has decreased by half since the departure of Tucker Carlson, with the entire lineup experiencing a general decline.
“The decline is also likely to have a negative impact on Fox News’s ability to negotiate higher fees from cable providers, as it was hoping to do before firing Carlson,” Newsweek added.
The change in rankings coincides with a news cycle that, as Katz mentioned in a subsequent tweet, favors MSNBC, as the network tends to experience an increase in viewership when Trump is experiencing difficulties.
Katz added that the networks have been on “opposite ratings trajectories” as CNN has been losing viewers to MSNBC. He then predicted that Fox would likely reclaim the top position this week, albeit by a margin that continues to shrink.
Just shy of two years and four months, Fox News has maintained an impressive 120-week stretch as the leader in average weekly primetime viewership. Mid-February 2021 marked the last time the network did not hold the top position in weekly viewership.
Adweek reported around this time that MSNBC’s average daily viewership had surpassed CNN’s. Despite this transient shift, Fox News outperformed MSNBC in average monthly primetime viewership during this period.
MSNBC’s increased viewership in February 2021 was attributed to its coverage of significant events such as Trump’s second impeachment, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and the first weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency, according to a report by Adweek.
The report also noted that MSNBC’s viewership decreased in February compared to the previous month, which featured coverage of the January 6, 2021 Capitol disturbances and their political consequences.
More on this story via Conservative Brief:
Since being taken off the air, Carlson has begun posting short monologues to Twitter, which Fox says is a violation of his contract. The network has sent him a cease-and-desist letter, though so far, he has refused to do so, arguing that Fox is in violation of their contract with him. CONTINUE READING…
