BLUE WAVE

Fox News Suffers Stunning Wipeout in Election Ratings

The president has been criticizing his once-favorite channel.

Fox News suffered a massive blow in midterm election ratings as a blue wave swept through the country.

Fox, once a favorite of President Donald Trump’s, fell behind in viewership within the advertiser-coveted 25-to-54 demographic on Election Night, Nov. 3. Meanwhile, CNN, Trump’s most-hated network, surged ahead, more than doubling Fox during the 10 pm hour.

According to the rankings, CNN outperformed Fox and other competitors, including MS Now and CBS, in the 25-to-54 age demographic by wide margins.

Nielsen data shows Fox and CNN had nearly identical total viewership: Fox garnered 4.3 million average viewers during primetime, while CNN drew 4.1 million. But CNN won the demographic advertisers value most and also attracted the most viewers during the 8-11 pm primetime slot.

However, Fox suffered another blow, with viewership significantly down from the 2022 midterm election. Back then, Fox News averaged 7.422 million viewers; four years later, its viewership dipped by 41 percent.

Fox boasted about its viewership record nonetheless on its site.

The network remains the most-watched cable channel overall, but its ratings have slipped as its favored party has also declined in popularity.

Last Monday, Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch attributed the decline to “viewer fatigue.”

CNN’s media analyst, Brian Stelter, pointed out the flaw in this theory about its rival network: “If that’s the diagnosis, it’s unique to Fox, since other news networks are seeing viewership growth.”

The CEO of MSNOW’s parent company, Mark Lazarus, also clapped back, saying on Versant’s third-quarter earnings call, “We’re not seeing currently...not seeing any fatigue with our audiences.”

Murdoch’s explanation came after Fox’s October total day audience within the 25-to-54 demographic fell to its lowest monthly level in 25 years.

Trump has been viciously critical of Fox, erupting at the MAGA network after its reporters were forced to convey the reality of his party’s loss in the elections.

On Tuesday night and in the days that followed, the 80-year-old president openly melted down over the channel’s coverage. He complained about New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s appearance on the channel and raged against Fox’s resident liberal panelist, Jessica Tarlov, calling her “DUMB AS A ROCK.” He even called The Five co-host Greg Gutfeld during the elections to complain about Tarlov.

TROUBLED WATTERS

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At midnight, as the election results clearly pointed out the magnitude of MAGA’s loss, Trump called hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum to tell them that Fox polls are “terrible,” prompting the MAGA-friendly hosts to fact-check the president on air.

Trump also took his ire online. “FoxNews Ratings are way down (27%!) because they’re spending too much time covering the Trump Deranged Dumocrats!” he wrote on Truth Social. “All of those people who used to watch Fox, and no longer do, get it. It’s them, not me—My numbers are better than they have ever been.”

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He continued, “No wonder FoxNews Ratings are collapsing, and they’re going to go down a lot further. They’re way down, not because of me, but because they are AGAINST me! This happened once before, and Fox almost collapsed. It’s happening again!”

Trump ultimately said, “Fox News bears responsibility for these losses by constantly and consistently putting on the Dumocrat opposition, and worse.”

BITING THE HAND

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Meera NavlakhaEntertainment Reporter

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