Despite ongoing controversy and advertiser boycotts targeting his Fox News program, Tucker Carlson broke Sean Hannity’s all-time record for highest-rated cable news show in the second quarter of 2020 with an average of 4.331 million total viewers, Forbes reported.
When advertisers such as ABC/Disney, Proactiv, and T-Mobile pulled their ads from Carlson’s show, viewers reacted by watching the show in even greater numbers. The aforementioned sponsors decided to stop running spots during Tucker Carlson Tonight after the host made comments critical of the Black Lives Matter movement, as The New York Times noted.
“This may be a lot of things, this moment we’re living through, but it is definitely not about black lives. Remember that when they come for you — and at this rate, they will,” Carlson said on June 6 amid escalating protests over George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody.
Fox News scores ratings win
Fox News continued to be the top-rated cable news network as well during the relevant time period, with an average of 3.574 million prime time viewers overall, according to Forbes.
MSNBC was once again a distant second with 1.999 million prime time viewers, and CNN attracted just 1.806 million viewers in what actually represented a strong rebound for the network.
All three cable news outlets gained viewers during the period, a fact likely attributable to interest in the continuing coronavirus pandemic and the mass social justice demonstrations sweeping the country.
For just the month of June, Sean Hannity’s Fox News show pulled the highest numbers in all of cable news, and Fox News took the top four spots in overall ratings, with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow coming in at fifth.
Trump blasts network
President Donald Trump has been increasingly negative toward Fox News in recent months, and in April he said the network was being “fed Democratic talking points” as the network ran several ads critical of him.
In May, Trump reacted to host Neil Cavuto’s disapproving reaction to his decision to take anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine after several close staffers tested positive for the coronavirus. At the time, he said that Fox was “doing nothing to help Republicans, and me, get re-elected,” according to Politico.
While some Fox News hosts have perhaps been less than kind to Trump on occasion, the network’s prime time opinion personalities continue to voice strong support for the president and his policies.
Even so, Fox News can always benefit from the inclusion of some dissenting voices as a means to demonstrate fairness and objectivity, despite those on the left accusing the network of being little more than Republican Party propaganda.
Not that they have much room to talk, considering that the mainstream media establishment essentially serves as the communications arm of the Democratic National Committee.
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