The mass exodus of Fox News viewers is so pronounced that even Donald Trump's town hall appearance — usually a big draw for the network — had unusually low ratings.
Just over a week ago, the former president joined Sean Hannity for an Iowa town hall, as the network has seen its prime-time ratings plummet in the wake of host Tucker Carlson’s firing.
Mediaite reported on the dismal viewership ratings, citing Nielsen, while noting that CNN's town hall with Trump on May 10 outperformed Fox News’ event.
The Fox News Trump town hall at 9 p.m. ET on the Hannity show scored 2.78 million total average viewers — but was almost one-half million fewer than Kaitlan Collins' CNN town hall, which drew 3.31 million total viewers.
The most targeted demographic, adults 25-54, had just 320,000 viewers on Fox News' Trump town hall, compared to 781,000 in the same demographic for CNN's, Mediaite noted.
CNN has been struggling to recapture its lost viewers and new CEO Chris Licht has sought to steer the network more toward the middle, politically, to appeal to more Americans.
It has been reported the town hall with Trump was Licht's idea, which came with opposition among CNN staffers.
Mediaite noted the past ratings for Trump town halls on Fox News: "5.1 million, 4.4 million, 4.2 million, 3.8 million, 3.5 million, and 3.2 million — with Hannity’s June 2020 event leading the way."
The cancellation of Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" has contributed to the network's slide.
After averaging, 2.07 million prime-time viewers in April, Fox News sidelined Carlson in an ongoing blackout and had an average of just 1.42 million viewers in May, the first full month post-Carlson, according to Mediaite.
Newsmax ratings have more than doubled in both prime time and its total-day audience share, according to Nielsen ratings data.
"Your network is really doing well," former President Donald Trump told "Rob Schmitt Tonight" in a 15-minute phone interview May 16. "I looked at the numbers and you're really going up like a rocket ship, and that's a fantastic thing for a conservative movement, frankly."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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