Fox News Ratings Take a Hit After Tucker Carlson Exit

Tucker Carlson speaks during 2022 FOX Nation Patriot Awards at Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood in Hollywood, Fla., on Nov. 17, 2022. Jason Koerner/Getty Images

After Tucker Carlson’s sudden exit from Fox News, the network suffered a loss in ratings on Monday night.

The network’s 8 p.m. hour had a noticeably smaller audience on Monday night, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The debut of a replacement program, “Fox News Tonight” that was hosted by Brian Kilmeade, pulled in 2.6 million viewers, or about 20 percent below the average for “Tucker Carlson Tonight” over the past two months or so.

Kilmeade is the first of what Fox News said is many rotating hosts who will be featured on the program until a replacement is named. Normally, Kilmeade hosts Fox’s morning program.

“As you probably have heard, Fox News and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways,” he told viewers on Monday night, adding: “I wish Tucker the best. I’m great friends with Tucker and always will be. But right now, it’s time for Fox News Tonight, so let’s get started.”

MSNBC saw 1.51 million viewers during the same time slot, while CNN saw 728,000 viewers, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Newsmax saw an increase in viewership for its 8 p.m. ET timeslot program, “Eric Bolling the Balance,” which netted 531,000 viewers.

For years, Carlson’s show has dominated cable news and, in recent months, was bested only by another Fox News program, “The Five,” which recently saw an uptick in viewership. Analysts said that Carlson’s exit will have a sizeable impact on Fox News—not just ratings.

“It’s a huge deal,” said Matthew Tuttle, the head of Tuttle Capital Management, an investment firm that is betting against Fox Corporation shares, according to Reuters. “The 8 pm slot is important and they will lose viewers in that spot.”

He then issued a warning to Fox: “They need to find another Carlson, that is going to be the problem. They need to pull a rabbit out of the hat.”

A company spokesperson told Reuters that Fox News has been number one for 22 years and that Monday’s show was not only top across the board, but grew from the last show hosted by Carlson, pointing to Nielsen data that showed it pulled in about 2.6 million viewers.

Meanwhile, Fox has not issued a comment on Carlson’s departure other than a statement thanking him for his contributions over the years, while announcing his final show was last Friday. As for Carlson, he issued a brief comment to a Daily Mail reporter near his Florida home and said that “retirement is going great so far,” without elaborating.

“We have some news from within our Fox family,” Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner said on the air Monday. “Fox News media and Tucker Carlson have mutually agreed to part ways.”

Fox News has survived a range of high-profile exits in the past decade or so. In 2017, former top-rated host Bill O'Reilly was forced out of the company amid allegations of misconduct, while former host Glenn Beck departed several years before that, and the channel lost star Megyn Kelly to NBC in 2017 after she expressed displeasure with managerial decisions at the network.

Reacting to Carlson’s exit, Kelly said on her conservative-leaning podcast Monday that it was a serious mistake to let Carlson go. Of note, Carlson was the highest-rated cable news program in the key 25-to-54 age demographic on Fox News and averaged 3.4 million viewers overall in March, according to Nielsen data cited by Reuters.

“I don’t know what drove Fox News to make this decision. And it was clearly Fox News’s decision because they’re not letting him say goodbye,” Kelly said Monday. “That’s my supposition. That’s not inside knowledge ... talk about misjudging your audience yet again.”

At the same time, conservatives and Republican voters have become increasingly critical of the channel since its coverage of the 2020 election between former President Donald Trump and then-Democratic candidate Joe Biden. This week, a range of conservative influencers and some Republican politicians wrote on social media that they won’t be watching Fox News, moving forward.

“For a while, Fox News has been moving to become establishment media, and Tucker Carlson’s removal is a big milestone in that effort,” Christopher Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax, said on Monday. Carlson’s departure, he claimed, will cause more viewers to flock to Newsmax over Fox News.

The Epoch Times has contacted Fox News for comment.