Tucker Carlson Knocks the Socks Off His Competition with Ratings, But What 'The Five' Did Is Truly Amazing
Fox News and Tucker Carlson aren’t taking any prisoners in the cable news ratings battle.
Fox averaged nearly twice the number of daily viewers that its closest liberal competitor received in the first quarter of 2023, according to Mediaite.
The network had a daily average of 1.36 million viewers. MSNBC, coming in a distant second, garnered 703,000.
The battle for cable news’ top show was waged between two Fox programs in March, with “Tucker Carlson Tonight” taking the top spot over “The Five.”
“The Five” had previously earned first place overall for 10 months straight, a title it’s finally handed off to Fox’s prime-time broadcast.
TV RATINGS: Fox News was #1 cable news channel in total viewers on Tuesday March 28, led by these hours:
1. @TuckerCarlson
2. @TheFive @greggutfeld @JesseBWatters @JudgeJeanine @JessicaTarlov @ShannonBream
3. @seanhannity
4. @jesseprimetime
5. @BretBaier https://t.co/MfPdWimD77… pic.twitter.com/7rj4uAb84k— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) March 29, 2023
As Fox soars, CNN plummets. The struggling channel had only 478,000 average daily viewers.
That performance amounts to the single worst quarter for CNN in ratings since 1991, according to Mediaite.
Network executives have sought to steer the cable channel away from its reputation as an instrument of the Democratic Party, demoting partisan hosts and arranging new programming featuring the channel’s veteran personalities.
Nevertheless, the network’s morning show performed pitifully, ranking 40th on cable television.
“CNN This Morning” averaged a paltry 359,000 daily viewers, with Fox’s “Fox & Friends” morning show receiving a 1.21 million daily average.
CNN’s morning show features Don Lemon, who was himself stripped of a prime-time broadcast last year.
The left-leaning network lost 27 percent of its daily viewers relative to the first quarter of 2022, when it benefited from interest in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The decline was even more pronounced in the advertiser-coveted 25 to 54 age demographic, with CNN losing a massive 40 percent of its audience in that age range.
Even Fox saw its ratings decline compared to last quarter, although its dip in viewership pales in comparison to CNN’s.
The ratings leader saw its daily average viewers decline by 15 percent.
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