President Donald Trump and many of his supporters have become increasingly critical of Fox News Channel’s coverage in recent months.
That backlash appears to be having an effect, as evidenced by the network’s recent first-ever loss to the much smaller Newsmax TV in ratings.
“Picking up the slack”
The stunning, albeit narrow, win for Newsmax came during a single hour of programming on Monday evening, as noted by the Washington Examiner.
Newsmax host Greg Kelly’s 229,000 viewers in the coveted 25-54 age demographic surpassed the 203,000 registered for Fox News’ Martha MacCallum during the 7 p.m. time slot.
Since the election, Newsmax has seen a boost in its ratings as many of Trump’s supporters continue their campaign against Fox News Channel’s early determination that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden won the state of Arizona.
Reaping the benefits of those disaffected viewers, Newsmax has seen its ratings increase exponentially. Primetime weekday numbers have grown nearly tenfold to 568,000 in recent months. Along with Newsmax, Trump has encouraged his followers to similarly tune into One America News “and others that are picking up the slack” caused by Fox News’ perceived shift in coverage.
While many smaller conservative networks are clearly seeing immediate boosts in their respective ratings, but it remains to be seen whether such elevated numbers will be sustainable in the long-term.
“People are really tired of Fox News”
Meanwhile, Fox News is far from struggling to find viewers. In fact, the network recently enjoyed its best November ever, with host Tucker Carlson becoming the first cable news personality to net more than 5 million viewers in two consecutive months.
As for McCallum, she beat her Newsmax rival on Monday in terms of overall ratings and again overtook him in the 25-49 demographic the following night.
For the week that ended on Friday, Fox News Channel attracted 2.9 million primetime viewers compared to Newsmax’s 391,000. Nevertheless, Newsmax is preparing for the long haul in light of the recent encouraging numbers.
As CEO Chris Ruddy said in a recent interview: “People are really tired of Fox News. There is a perception that they really tried to torpedo the president.”
Fox Corporation Chief Financial Officer Steve Tomsic said on Tuesday that Fox News has “stood the test of time” and he does not expect that to change.
The post Newsmax TV scores impressive ratings win over Fox News first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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