According to recent data from Nielsen Media Research, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson has outpaced the entire lineup of CNN’s prime time shows, The Daily Wire reported.
Nielsen Media Research for 03/25-03/29 found that CNN’s primetime viewership totaled 2,474,000 viewers while Carlson’s 3,475,000 total viewers.
The Daily Wire reported Carlson’s and CNN’s primetime viewership as follows:
FOX News Tucker Carlson: 3,475,000 total viewers; 625,000 viewers in the 25-54 age demographic
CNN Cooper: 810,000 total viewers; 203,000 viewers in the 25-54 age demographic
CNN Cuomo: 875,000 total viewers; 217,000 viewers in the 25-54 age demographic
CNN Lemon: 789,000 total viewers; 228,000 viewers in the 25-54 age demographic
While Fox News is the leading cable network, their ratings saw a huge hike after Attorney General William Barr sent a letter to Congress reporting that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation had found no reason to bring charges against the Trump campaign for collusion with Russia.
CNN, whose hosts had made no secret of their belief that President Donald Trump was guilty of the alleged collusion, saw an immediate slash in ratings, to which with CNN’s Brian Stelter claimed: “Since the letter’s release on Sunday, there hasn’t been much news.”
I am now open to the idea that Brian Stelter is trolling ALL of us. He literally said there hasn't been much news this week and that's why ratings are down. https://t.co/TvrqQHBQRy
— Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) March 28, 2019
Stelter’s claim was met with widespread derision among other industry professionals, but CNN doubled down, attacking Fox News and Carlson specifically.
“Over the last month, Tucker Carlson’s commercial breaks have had only a smattering of ads from lesser-known brands,” CNN tweeted on Tuesday night. “It might be a new normal for the Fox News host, who has endured ad boycott campaigns since he made racist remarks on immigrants in December.”
Over the last month, Tucker Carlson's commercial breaks have had only a smattering of ads from lesser-known brands. It might be a new normal for the Fox News host, who has endured ad boycott campaigns since he made racist remarks on immigrants in December. https://t.co/Ac9sfcYiaS pic.twitter.com/O9GNUKxmyr
— CNN (@CNN) April 2, 2019
Carlson’s ratings win was despite an attack from the far-left Media Matters, who attempted to undercut the Fox host by promoting audio recordings of what they considered to be controversial comments from earlier in Carlson’s career.
While that attack caused a few of his advertisers to get cold feet and withdraw their ads during his show, overall the prime time host appears to have weathered the storm with his viewership intact.