On a midterm election night that was a huge disappointment for Republicans, with Democrats taking control of the US House and Senate, the country’s most prominent conservative television network felt the brunt of viewer disillusionment with Donald Trump and his party, according to preliminary audience numbers.
The Fox News Channel, which often leads in viewership on election night, appears to have come out far behind the competition. According to preliminary “Fast Nationals” ratings dating from the Nielsen firm, the network averaged ۳.۸۸۲ million total viewers between ۸ and ۱۱pm, far behind broadcast networks NBC (۶.۵۱۹ million viewers) and ABC (۴.۹۰۶ million viewers), and even trailing fellow cable networks CNN (۳.۹۲۷ million viewers) and MS Now (۳.۹۲۲ million viewers). Fox News did, however, defeat CBS News, which attracted just ۲.۶۲۹ million viewers.
Because the numbers are preliminary, they are likely to be revised upwards when final audience data is released on Thursday.
Overall, the big six television networks averaged ۲۵.۷۸۴ million total viewers during prime-time election coverage, up from ۲۲.۲۱۵ million total viewers in ۲۰۲۲. During those ۲۰۲۲ elections, Fox News averaged ۷.۴۲۲ million viewers.
With Trump reaching historic levels of unpopularity, Fox News has seen viewers tune out in recent months. Last month, the network’s viewership was down ۲۷% compared with the same month last year in total day viewers, though it still handily defeated CNN and MS Now. Lachlan Murdoch, the chief executive of parent company Fox Corp, acknowledged “viewer fatigue” in an earnings call on Monday.
Trump, who criticized Fox throughout election night and blamed the network for his party’s losses, poked fun at the network’s October figures in a Truth Social post, chalking up the decline to the channel’s industry-standard practice of booking Democratic candidates for interviews.
“FoxNews Ratings are way down (۲۷%!) because they’re spending too much time covering the Trump Deranged Dumocrats!” he wrote on Tuesday evening. “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.”
