Why Fox News’ ability to find ‘replacement’ for Tucker Carlson ‘might prove overly optimistic’: reporter

Since former Fox Host Tucker Carlson’s firing last month, the right-wing network has seen a significant decrease in viewership.

After settling to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million, also last month, the network still faces deflation lawsuits from Dominion competitor Smartmatic, and most recently, from disinformation expect and author Nina Jankowicz.

According to Mediaite, the question the conservative outlet “must ask themselves, is having those viewers simply tuned out for good? Or is there a way to bring them back?”

READ MORE: Fox News’ ratings plummet after firing Tucker Carlson

Since Carlson’s exit, has seen “a drop of some 39 percent,” from 2.6 million viewers to 1.6 million viewers.

Furthermore, Newsmax, one of Fox’s fiercest competitors, “has seen a boost since Carlson’s abrupt firing, especially at 8 p.m. – Carlson’s old time slot,” Mediaite reports, “yet Newsmax’s increase doesn’t come close to accounting for the million viewers Fox has shed in prime time since firing Carlson.”

Mediaitereports:

Newsmax’s Eric Bolling, formerly a Fox host, benefited the most from Carlson’s exit and has seen his daily viewer average increase from 202,000 viewers to 489,000 – comparing the four weeks before and after. In prime time, Newsmax is now averaging 383,000 viewers, which is up 135 percent since Carlson’s firing — according to some number crunching from the Washington Post.

Founding director of the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London, Thomas Gift, told NewsweekNewsweek earlier this month, “It’s hard to overestimate Carlson’s importance to Fox News.”

He emphasized, “The network’s leadership seems to think he’s replaceable, but that might prove overly optimistic,” Gift added. “Just because in the past viewers have stuck with Fox News after, for example, the departure of Bill O’Reilly or Megyn Kelly doesn’t mean they’ll continue to do so post-Carlson. That’s especially true now with the growth of so many new alternative outlets, like Newsmax, where viewers can get their right-wing fix.”

READ MORE: Tucker Carlson, Fox News and the problem of faking ‘authenticity’

Mediaite’s full report is available at this link. Newsweek’s report is here.