Fox News saw its ratings drop Monday night without its most popular host. The network’s 8 p.m. hour drew a considerably smaller audience on Monday night after Tucker Carlson and Fox News parted ways on April 24. Just under 2.6 million people tuned in to the debut of Fox News Tonight, which featured Brian Kilmeade as the first of a rotating line-up of hosts. It is about 21 percent below the average viewership for Tucker Carlson Tonight (3.3 million viewers) over the last eight Mondays, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Among the key news demographic of adults 25-54, Fox News Tonight received a 0.24 rating, down 37 percent from the 0.38 rating Carlson averaged over the previous eight Monday shows. The numbers were still sufficient to lead the 8 p.m. hour on cable news by a significant margin. MSNBC‘s Joe Scarborough Presents special drew 1.51 million viewers, while CNN‘s Anderson Cooper 360 attracted 728,000.
The Fox News 9 p.m. show, Hannity, did not suffer due to the smaller lead-in. The show was watched by 2.53 million viewers, about the same as its Monday average (2.59 million) over the past two months, but trailed MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show by 2.6 million viewers. At 10 p.m., The Ingraham Angle (1.92 million) dropped by about 6 percent from its recent Monday average of 2.04 million viewers, the outlet reported. As a result of Carlson’s exit, Newsmax saw its primetime audience jump in the wake of its open play for Fox News viewers on Monday. Both Eric Bolling the Balance (531,000 viewers) and Greg Kelly Reports (540,000) have seen more than triple their average audiences (145,000 for Bolling and 141,000 for Kelly) since the first quarter of the year. Additionally, Kelly interviewed former president Donald Trump on Monday, which may have contributed to the increase.
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After several years as the top anchor of cable news, Carlson was ousted by Fox News on Monday. During the first four months of this year, Carlson’s show averaged about 3.25 million viewers per night, ranking as the most-watched primetime show on cable. It regularly drew more than 3 million viewers nightly, according to The Hollywood Reporter. A total of 3.25 million viewers tuned in to Tucker Carlson Tonight in the first three months of 2023, a far cry from its rivals All In With Chris Hayes on MSNBC (1.33 million) and Anderson Cooper 360 (750,000). Only another Fox News show, The Five, has regularly surpassed it recently; the two shows alternated the lead for the last several months. Fox News has yet to address the reason for Carlson’s exit.
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