Since popular host Tucker Carlson was booted from the network, Sean Hannity’s primetime program on Fox News is feeling the pressure.
The average audience for Hannity’s show, which peaked at nearly 2 million in the final weeks of May, has dropped to approximately 1.7 million so far in June. Comparatively, Hannity’s primetime program averaged approximately 3 million viewers per night before Fox News pulled Carlson from the air in late April.
“Fox News and MSNBC have been neck and neck in the cable news ratings in recent days and Wednesday was no different as Fox News and MSNBC tied in the total day demo. Fox beat MSNBC in total viewers in both the total day and primetime averages but lost the prime-time demo to MSNBC,” Mediaite reported. “Fox’s The Five remained the top-rated show on cable news with 2.68 million total viewers, helping to boost Fox’s average.”
“MSNBC and Fox both scored 156,000 total day demo viewers, while CNN was third with 111,000. In total day viewers, Fox won with 1.39 million viewers to MSNBC’s 1.2 million — CNN had 557,000. In prime time, Fox just beat MSNBC with 1.79 million total viewers to 1.76 million, and CNN was in third with 706,000. MSNBC won the prime-time demo with 216,000 viewers over Fox’s 166,000. CNN was third with 140,000 demo viewers,” the outlet added.
After years of dominating cable news ratings, Fox News Channel has been dethroned by left-leaning rival MSNBC in key time slots.
“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, viewership in this time slot has decreased by half since the departure of Tucker Carlson, and viewership across the entire lineup has also declined.
“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.
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.
More on this story via Conservative Brief:
Around that time, Adweek reported a surge in viewership for MSNBC, surpassing CNN in average daily viewers. Although this marked a momentary shift in the rankings, Fox News still outperformed MSNBC in average monthly primetime viewership during that period. CONTINUE READING…
