Prime time viewership of Fox News was down nearly 30% during the first full week of reporting since former host Tucker Carlson parted ways with the network last Monday.
Fox News averaged only 1.449 million viewers during its prime time hours between April 24, the day Carlson was fired, and April 30, per the LA Times, which reported that this accounts for a 29.6% drop in viewership in just one week. Worse, the network only made the top 20 cable programs twice over the week:
Fox News Channel had none of the week’s top 10 cable programs and only three in the 20 — two editions of “Hannity” and the first edition of “Fox News Tonight,” the network’s replacement for “Tucker Carlson Tonight” in the weeknight 8 p.m. time slot. The previous week Fox News had eight of the top 20 — five episode of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” (two of those in the top 10) and three episodes of “Hannity.” In Carlson’s final week before being fired, the final five editions of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” accounted for each of Fox News Channel’s five largest prime-time audiences.
Despite being fired with a week left in the month, Carlson’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight” was the most watched cable news program among the coveted 25-54 demographic, according to Adweek, receiving an average of more than 3 million viewers on each episode prior to the cancellation.
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Following brief viewer interest in the “Fox News Tonight” program that temporarily replaced Carlson, the 8 p.m. ET prime time block formerly dedicated to “Tucker Carlson Tonight” lost around 50% of its viewership following Carlson’s departure.
On the Wednesday after Carlson’s departure, only 1.33 million viewers watched at 8 p.m., less than half of Carlson’s 3 million or more loyal viewers.
Meanwhile, speculation continues about exactly what circumstances led to Carlson’s departure. Alex Jones, a known associate of Carlson, recently asserted that media mogul Rupert Murdoch became jealous and enraged after his ex-girlfriend gushed over Carlson during a dinner held shortly before the couple split.
