As Tucker Carlson succeeds, Mark Cuban seethes.
The owner of the Dallas Mavericks took a desperate dig at the king of prime time on Saturday, but according to the Washington Examiner, Carlson’s eponymous Fox News show continues to dominate the NBA in ratings.
Cuban blasts Carlson
Cuban was responding Saturday to a tweet from the Daily Caller’s David Hookstead, who pointed out that Tucker Carlson Tonight drew 3.6 million viewers one evening, more than the combined 2.6 million of NBA games the same night.
In reply, Cuban tried to save face by mocking Carlson’s success with older viewers, playing on stereotypes of Fox’s audience.
“In the advertiser coveted 18-49 demographic, our prime time outperformed Tucker in prime time by 215%,” Cuban said, according to the Examiner. “He did slaughter us in the 70+ plus demographic, so have to give credit there.”
This is what they call “moving the goalposts.” Tucker Carlson Tonight recently became the highest-rated show in cable news history, as Forbes reported, bringing in an average of 4.3 million viewers in the second quarter and 791,000 in the coveted 25-to-54 demographic, according to the Washington Examiner.
Carlson is also dominating in the 18-to-49 demographic that Cuban mentioned overall, the Examiner notes.
He can’t take the heat
On his show, Carlson has been a trenchant critic of the Black Lives Matter protests that Cuban, a woke billionaire, supports. Apparently, viewers are liking what Carlson has to say.
On the other hand, as the NBA returns for a truncated season inside of a “bubble” at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, ratings have been down, the Examiner observes. Some speculate that the kneeling protests roiling basketball and other sports are making games unwatchable for many fans.
But as Carlson continues to shadow the NBA — like Fox Sports radio host Clay Travis and others have pointed out — Cuban is firing off more sassy tweets. According to Cuban, the reason Fox was leading NBA in the 18-to-49 demographic Tuesday night is that viewers wanted to be “lied to” about Kamala Harris.
“Lol. You do realize that was the day Joe Biden picked Kamala Harris? Nothing makes a Fox News viewer want to get lied to more,” Cuban wrote, according to The Spun. “And while we are at it, explain why advertisers pay 3x or more for a prime time NBA spot over a Fox News Spot? And who has had advertiser boycotts?”
Apparently, being a wealthy investor doesn’t come with self-possession. This is just sad.
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