You Can't Replace Tucker: Watters Suffers Massive Drop in Viewership During Carlson's Old Time Slot
When the bad guys run a cable-news network, even the good guys suffer.
RadarOnline, a pop culture and entertainment news site, reported on Wednesday that Jesse Watters, Tucker Carlson’s permanent replacement at Fox News, has suffered a significant ratings drop compared to his predecessor.
On Monday, his first night in Carlson’s old 8 p.m. time slot, Watters drew 2.4 million viewers. Carlson drew an average of 3.2 million.
One Twitter user summarized the situation for many conservatives and Carlson fans: “I like Jesse but man…not good!”
FOX News put Jesse Watters in prime time slot taking over Tucker Carlson.
Jesse has lost over 800 thousand viewerships! 😂😂😂
I like Jesse but man… not good!
— Judy ⛳️🇺🇸🍊 (@judytgolf) July 19, 2023
On the bright side for Fox News, Watters still drew more viewers than MSNBC’s Chris Hayes (1.2 million) and CNN’s Anderson Cooper (668,222) combined.
Nonetheless, these ratings represent another setback for the longtime stalwart in conservative cable news.
By the end of Carlson’s tenure, Watters had established himself in the network’s 7 p.m. slot as a lead-in to Tucker Carlson Tonight.
If they had to identify a host from their existing lineup who most appealed to Carlson’s fans, Fox News executives no doubt would have identified Watters.
Having bled viewership in the three months since Carlson’s departure, those executives had reason to believe that replacing Carlson with Watters might stop the hemorrhaging.
While Watters’ first show did reverse the trend of plummeting ratings for a revolving door of temporary 8 p.m. hosts, the net loss remains staggering.
In short, the switch from Carlson to Watters thus far has cost Fox News a viewership that exceeds Cooper’s entire audience.
Time will tell whether Watters can boost his numbers and mitigate the damage the network has done to itself.
Given the prevailing mood among conservative populists who turned to Carlson for their one source of truth each weeknight, that does not seem like a good bet.
Watters will do the best he can, and his best beats nearly anyone else in cable news.
The backlash against Fox News has nothing to do with Watters, though one suspects that many of Carlson’s fans would respect Watters more if he resigned from the network in protest.
For many former viewers, Carlson’s firing showed the network’s true colors.
We do not want to watch garden-variety Republicans blathering on about marginal tax rates and why we need regime change in Heaven only knows what part of the world this time.
More to the point, many former viewers now have good reason to believe that Fox News executives actually despise them. Why would they return?
In short, we like Jesse, but man…not good.
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