Is Fox News going to be okay without Tucker Carlson? It remains to be seen. They’ll probably be fine: The brand has survived after firing its share of superstars. Just ask Bill O’Reilly or Glenn Beck how things are going after losing that size a platform. But at least on the first night sans the “testicle tanning” enthusiast, things didn’t go so swimmingly.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, the debut of Fox News Tonight, which replaced Tucker Carlson Tonight and which will have revolving door hosts until a replacement can be found, saw significantly fewer viewers than the weird laughter used to wrangle. The episode, guest hosted by Brian Kilmeade, drew in just under 2.6 million viewers. That may still sound big, but Carlson’s average was 3.3 million, meaning there was a whopping 21 percent drop.
What’s more, the new show also saw a drop in a key news demographic. Carlson used to get a solid 0.38 amongst the 25-to-54 crowd. Fox News Tonight had only 0.24, or a jaw-dropping 37 percent drop.
The lack of Tucker didn’t exactly affect other shows. Hannity, which used to follow Tucker, Hoovered up 2.53 million viewers, which is roughly on par with its usual Monday night audience of 2.59 million. The Ingraham Angle did have a slight dip, earning 1.92 million, a touch below its usual 2.04 million.
Where did Tucker’s usual audience go? They might have switched to Newsmax, whose two big primetime shows saw a massive uptick. Eric Bolling The Balance nabbed 531,000 viewers, up from the usual 145,000, while Greg Kelly Reports nabbed 540,000, up from 141,000. That’s almost triple the audience, though it’s still significantly smaller than Fox News or even CNN.
The news isn’t worrying enough to suggest that Marjorie Taylor Greene’s claim that a mass Fox News exodus is afoot is legit. Maybe people just weren’t feeling Brian Kilmeade. Maybe many are finally tired of the network’s transition into increased anger-making hysteria, which makes even their Iraq War era seem almost reasonable by comparison. (Joke.) Still, those who skipped Fox News Tonight missed Kilmeade’s comically brief ode to his dearly departed colleague.
(Via THR)