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Newsmax Sees a Ratings Boost After Carlson’s Exit at Fox

Newsmax, a niche conservative news channel that has long played David as Fox News’ Goliath, has taken advantage of Tucker Carlson’s shock dismissal from rival networks to become a veritable TV home for right-wing Americans. I declared.

So far, this strategy has shown some promise.

Newsmax’s ratings are well below Fox News’ ratings. However, shortly after Carlson resigned, viewership at certain times doubled and tripled at some time slots.

On Monday night, Eric Bolling’s 8 p.m. Newsmax program attracted 531,000 viewers, according to Nielsen. A week ago he was at 146,000. On Tuesday, Mr. Bolling’s viewership rose to his 562,000. That’s about 80% of Anderson Cooper’s CNN viewership that night. Newsmax’s other Golden His Time shows also experienced significant increases.

The sharp rise in viewership could be on the verge of Monday’s announcement that Fox News is parting ways with Mr. Carlson.

Newsmax executives immediately saw an opportunity.

Starting Monday, Newsmax’s program aggressively promoted the theory that Mr Carlson’s dismissal represented a surrender to the Left by Fox News and the Murdoch family.

One reviewer thought on-air that Fox Corporation executive chairman Lachlan Murdoch was “far more liberal” than his father, Rupert Murdoch.Andrew Napolitano, Newsmax critic who was fired According to Fox News in 2021 over allegations of harassment, Fox News firing its top-rated anchor was “like the 1927 Yankees firing Babe Ruth for table manners. I just don’t get it.” “

Anchors and guests listened to recent remarks by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of the New York State Democratic Party calling for Tucker’s removal. “AOC speaks and Fox listens,” complained Newsmax anchor Chris Salcedo. “These are really the end times.”

By Thursday morning, the network was asking viewers to vote in a poll.

“Fox is moving toward accepting an established position,” Newsmax Chief Executive Christopher Rudy said in an interview Thursday. “They want to abandon some of the Trumpist and populist MAGA that Tucker echoed.” Ruddy said he preferred to “embrace all aspects of the Republican Party.”

Overall, Newsmax remains in the midst of low ratings. On Tuesday night, Fox News’ “Hanity” drew her 2.1 million viewers. “Ingraham Angle” mobilized his 1.6 million people. Fox News was the highest-rated network across cable television in his first three months of the year, according to Nielsen data. And the network has bounced back from losing stars like Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck.

But the absence of the biggest prime-time star, Carlson, was felt.

On Tuesday, Fox News lost out to both CNN and MSNBC among adults ages 25 to 54 at 8 p.m. “Fox & Friends” co-host Brian Kilmeade replaced Carlson for the lead in total viewership, although he trailed CNN’s Cooper and his MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.

The Newsmax surge came shortly after Fox News paid $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit filed by election technology firm Dominion Voting Systems. Evidence for that is the growth of Newsmax after the 2020 election, when former President Donald J. Trump blamed Murdoch-owned networks for its predictions that Joseph R. Biden Jr. would win in Arizona. indicated that Fox News executives were deeply concerned.

At the time, Newsmax viewership exploded, and on one night in December 2020, it was rated higher than Fox News anchor Martha McCallum (McCallum soon after moved to another time slot). switched). However, the audience eventually dwindled. Despite Trump’s displeasure, Fox News remained the undisputed king of cable news ratings, thanks in part to Carlson’s increasingly provocative programming.

So would Ruddy now consider hiring a former Fox anchor to Newsmax?

Ruddy said he was “definitely open to talking to him,” but speculated that Carlson might follow someone like Joe Rogan and pursue an independent podcast. “He is one of the most influential and important voices in the conservative media and should not be ignored.”

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