Fox News took quite a ratings dive when they landed in third place behind CNN and MSNBC. This is reportedly the first time since all the way back in September of 2000 that Fox News has been behind both of the opposing networks in viewership.
The Fox News ratings slump took place over a three day period starting on January 6 and ending on January 8th. There is speculation this might be due to the events that happened at the Capitol on January 6th, with many people tuning into the other networks to see live coverage of the incident that ended up with several people losing their lives and many, many arrests.
Contributing Editor at the Daily Beast, Justin Baragona, reported on the viewership statistics and ratings of the three networks – Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. His report says for that Wednesday (Jan 6), that CNN averaged “5.941 million total viewers and 2.074 million in the key 25-54 demographic for the entire day, compared to MSNBC’s 4.543 million viewers overall and 1.106 million demo audience and Fox News’ total audience of 3.464 million and 852,000 in the demo.”
Thursday’s (Jan 7) report was not much different with Fox News still behind, but the disparity increasing. Baragona reported “with CNN drawing 3.854 million total viewers, MSNBC averaging 3.321 million, and Fox pulling in 1.935 million for the day. CNN also led in the demo, nabbing 1.193 million with MSNBC finishing second at 653,000 and Fox bringing in the rear at 384,000.”
To cap it off, the three day Fox News slump continued on Friday (Jan 8) and CNN took the lead for a third day in a row. CNN had “3.121 million total viewers, followed by MSNBC’s 2.816 million and FNC’s 1.702 million. In the total day demo, CNN drew 878,000 viewers, compared to MSNBC’s 512,000 and Fox News’ 320,000.”
Overall, MSNBC hit a high note by having one of their highest-rated weeks in history with an average total of 3.1 million people viewing their programs.
Further speculation for the Fox News decline in ratings could be due to Trump supporters no longer interested in their shows since the president lost the 2020 election. That is merely speculation based on reading the room called social media and seeing many people disgruntled with the hosts on Fox News.
Photo: SiriusXM