After a 120-week winning streak in which Fox News was top dog in TV viewership ratings, rival MSNBC surpassed the MAGA network last week in the primetime category. (CNN remained in third place.)
MSNBC's victory was narrow, beating Fox by just 60,000 in average primetime viewers (out of more than a million), according to Nielsen ratings via Forbes. And when you factor in the rest of both networks' programming (beyond primetime), Fox still beat out MSNBC, as well as CNN, "a position that it has held throughout the entirety of the year so far."
The primetime drop occurred during a week filled with Trump indictment news. It also, of course, follows the ousting of Tucker Carlson, who was both a toxic liability and cash cow for Fox. When you build your entire company on hate-fueled dopamine triggers and then remove the most inflammatory host in television history, your ratings are obviously going to tumble. But there are plenty more hate-mongers waiting in the (right) wings, and Fox will surely find another testicle tanning bro to fill his shorts in due time.
From Forbes:
From June 5 to June 11, MSNBC averaged a total of 1,374,000 primetime viewers, while Fox averaged 1,314,000, according to data released by Nielsen.
CNN ranked No. 3 in average primetime viewership last week, following far behind MSNBC and Fox with 728,000 viewers—as CNN continues to struggle against its rivals.
The slip from Fox News comes after the network began to experience decreasing viewership numbers after severing ties with former primetime host Tucker Carlson.
The strained relationship between Fox News and Carlson has continued well past his departure. Yesterday, multiple outlets reported that Fox News sent a cease and desist letter to Carlson, alleging his show on Twitter was a breach of his contract.
