Fox News is learning a hard lesson in why you shouldn’t abandon your core audience, and it’s a lesson that could cost them dearly.
In the latest numbers released by data firm Nielsen, Fox News was beaten by both MSNBC and CNN, something that hasn’t happened since September of 2000, over 20 years ago.
During the Capitol protests, CNN and MSNBC soared above Fox News.
Both liberal networks scored their highest ratings ever.
You’d think that Fox News would have scored historic ratings, especially since thousands of Conservatives were at the Capitol.
But…
Trump supporters have since found alternative news sources.
Business Insider confirms the worst performance for Fox News since 2000:
CNN and MSNBC scored both higher ratings than Fox News at the same time for the first time since 2000 as their viewership boomed during last week’s storming of the US Capitol.
Data firm Nielsen said that MSNBC and CNN both beating Fox News in the ratings last week was the first time that had happened since September 24, 2000, according to Mediaite.
The networks saw viewership soar as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, and that gap grew during their coverage of the event in the following days.
According to the Daily Beast, this is what the viewership figures looked like:
On Wednesday, CNN averaged 5.941 million total viewers, while MSNBC averaged 4.543 million and Fox News averaged 3.464 million.
On Thursday, CNN averaged 3.854 million total viewers, MSNBC averaged 3.321 million, and Fox averaged 1.935 million.
On Friday, CNN had 3.121 million total viewers, MSNBC had 2.816 million and Fox News had 1.702 million.
The three networks were the most-watched in the US for that period.
CNN and MSNBC also led Fox News in key demographics.
[…]
Wednesday, the day of the siege, was also the most-watched day in CNN’s history and MSNBC’s highest-rated week ever.
Now that Fox News is losing the ratings race, they’ve decided to shake up their schedule. It appears that they’ve demoted some anchors while promoting others. But is it too little, too late?
Fox News is reportedly in panic-mode, looking for quick changes to fight the hemorrhage of viewers leaving the outlet for NewsMax.
KMJ Now confirms the shakeup and terrible ratings:
The rise of Newsmax TV has caused a major shake-up at Fox News, which announced Monday that its early evening show host Martha MacCallum has been demoted back to an early afternoon slot, among other lineup shakeups.
“Newsmax’s consistently strong numbers during the day and especially at the 7 p.m. ET slot has caused panic at Fox, which rarely makes lineup changes,” Newsmax said in a statement Monday, adding with a wink, “The Fox is on the run.”
MacCallum’s “The Story” had long been the #1 cable news show in the 7 p.m. time slot, until Newsmax TV’s “Greg Kelly Reports” began a ratings surge in recent months.
With Kelly pulling an average over 800,000 viewers per minute each night, MacCallum had fallen to third place behind CNN and MSNBC.
In December Greg Kelly Reports beat MacCallum in the key demo, a news story broke by CNN.
Newsmax has consistently taken one-third to one-half of Fox’s audience in each day part, according to the Nielsen Coverage Rating. The Coverage Rating shows a network’s viewership proportionate to the homes that can tune in.
Last week the Nielsen Coverage Rating for 7 p.m. showed that in the crucial 35-64 demo, “Greg Kelly Reports” was pulling more than half of MacCallum’s “The Story” (.77 versus 1.53).
The Nielsen numbers tell only half the story. Newsmax streams free on most OTT platforms and Fox News does not.
Newsmax estimates the OTT viewership nearly doubles its Nielsen average viewership numbers.
Newsmax’s consistently strong numbers have caused Fox to make additional changes.
