There was never any doubt that Tucker Carlson’s dismissal would be detrimental to Fox News. The concern was how terrible it could get for the cable network.
Since Carlson was dismissed from his primetime broadcasting position a month ago, a variety of statistics have begun to emerge, and none of them are encouraging for Fox News.
In fact, if you are a Fox News executive or investor, some of these figures should scare the living daylights out of you.
The traditional media sector was stunned by Carlson’s announcement on Tuesday that he would be bringing his program (or a version of it) to Twitter, of all places.
We’re back. pic.twitter.com/sG5t9gr60O
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) May 9, 2023
However, a seismic alert is of little use if no one is present to hear it.
Carlson is unconcerned about it based on the tweet’s astronomically high metrics.
By Thursday morning, over 25 million people had viewed the video. Twitter defines a video view as any moment a video is visible for at least two seconds.
In the meantime, the video-containing tweet has received over 122 million views.
The vast majority of television networks would perpetrate heinous crimes to obtain such astounding social media statistics.
You can comprehend the magnitude of these numbers by comparing the number of views for this video to the number of views for other recent viral stories.
The retired NBA legend Dwyane Wade announced his induction into the Hall of Fame through a video tweet that has received 1.5 million video views and nearly 9 million tweet views.
1st ballot. 🙏🏿 Thank you to the @Hoophall and the voters for the honor. pic.twitter.com/dLwChbAwaX
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) April 1, 2023
This now-iconic tweet of Kid Rock destroying piles of Bud Light has garnered 11.2 million video views and 52.6 million tweet views.
— KidRock (@KidRock) April 4, 2023
This trending tweet purports to illustrate the production of a McDonald’s McRib: There have been 8.5 million views of the video.
Can this even be considered food? A McDonald’s worker decides to reveal how a McRib is made. pic.twitter.com/yFraU7JGhp
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) October 25, 2022
That’s the NBA, Kid Rock, and McDonald’s, all of which were easily eclipsed in terms of views and reach by Carlson’s aforementioned tweet. Instead of pulverizing @joesmith12345 and @Anon9876, Carlson’s tweet obliterated a number of respectable cultural touchstones.
In case you thought it was a coincidence or that he somehow managed to capture lightning in a bottle, here is Carlson’s first tweet after he was fired from Fox News:
Good evening pic.twitter.com/SPrsYKWKCE
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) April 27, 2023
This Carlson video has been viewed by over 24.5 million people, and 83.3 million people via tweet.
How could anyone in a position of authority at Fox News not sense the weight of what they have just lost in the face of such horrifying numbers?
More on this story via The Republic Brief:
Even if there isn’t a lot of data to support it—at least until Carlson’s new show officially debuts—it appears quite obvious that, at least in the Twitter space, Fox News needs Carlson much more than Carlson needs Fox News. CONTINUE READING…
