Tucker Carlson, Twitter And Fox News Have Been Losing Audiences

Since June 6, Tucker Carlson’s audience has experienced a significant decrease of 86%, marking its lowest point to date. The most recent eighth episode on June 30 garnered only 3.8 million views. Overall, there has been a downward trend in viewership, although the third episode, coinciding with Trump’s indictment by the Justice Department, saw an increase to 18.7 million views. In the subsequent second episode, the number of video views dropped to 13.9 million. Tucker on Twitter, Carlson’s initial video on the platform, managed to accumulate 26 million video views. Ever since Tucker Carlson was abruptly terminated from Fox News in April and began sharing videos on Twitter on June 6, his audience has experienced a continuous decline.

Corresponding to Carlson’s video, photo, or text posts, the number of views for Carlson’s eighth episode was a mere eight million. The Twitter post for Carlson’s initial video episode was broadcasted, and Carlson’s Twitter post garnered 120 million views. On the microblogging platform, Carlson’s recent “program” accumulated 134.1 million views on May 9, when he announced his Twitter post. Over time, the number of views on Carlson’s accounts has also significantly declined. Likewise.

Evidently, television possesses greater longevity compared to Twitter. Employing a distinct approach to measure audience, Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News consistently garnered over three million viewers every weeknight, making it one of the most highly rated shows on cable television.

On December 31, 2024, Tucker Carlson’s contract with Fox News will expire. He is a singularly important voice on matters of public interest in our country, and his attorneys made it clear that he will not be silenced by anyone. On June 13, Fox lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to inform him to stop posting videos on Twitter. Carlson’s contract with Fox News reportedly pays him $20 million annually, and it includes a non-compete clause. The question remains whether he will continue to post videos on Twitter.

“What he has provided to every other Twitter user is an opportunity to express their opinions without any intermediaries. I would decline even if he did offer, as he hasn’t proposed to employ me and I am not employed by Elon Musk,” Carlson stated. According to Musk, neither does Carlson possess a contract with the company nor is he being compensated by Twitter.

Grossberg’s accusation listed Carlson among other individuals. During the Dominion deposition, Fox News requested her to present untrue testimony and also alleged that the network had an unfriendly and prejudiced work environment. Abby Grossberg, a former producer, received a $12 million payment from Fox News at the end of June. Furthermore, Fox News resolved a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787 million just days before Carlson was terminated.

Tucker Carlson demanded an on-air apology in January from Ray Epps, the government secret agent who falsely portrayed him as a representing lawyer for Smartmatic, the voting machine company. The New York Times reported earlier this week that Epps had directed the events involving Tucker Carlson and could potentially face a lawsuit for defamation, with Fox News still facing a $2.7 billion lawsuit from Smartmatic.

Insider Intelligence estimates that Twitter’s worldwide advertising revenue will decrease by 29% in 2023 compared to the previous year. During the early second quarter, The New York Times reported a year-over-year decrease of 59% in Twitter’s advertising revenue, which amounted to $88 million over a five-week period. Since Elon Musk assumed control of Twitter in October of last year, there has been a decline in both advertisers and users. The addition of Carlson to Twitter occurred during a challenging period for the social media platform.

Over the course of the following year, a quarter of those individuals indicated that they are unlikely to come back to Twitter. Furthermore, Pew also disclosed that around 60% of American adults who utilized Twitter in the previous year have recently taken a break from the platform. Numerous individuals are not posting as frequently, despite the fact that most highly engaged Twitter users still utilize the service following Musk’s acquisition, as per a May survey conducted by Pew Research.

They will soon overtake Twitter users if Threads continues at this impressive pace. Even ChatGPT’s release was overshadowed by Threads, which achieved over 100 million users just a few days after its launch. Threads, a competing microblogging site introduced by Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has posed another challenge.

In January, Cloudflare NET, which gauges popularity among other websites, reported that Twitter was ranked 32nd. However, by early July, Twitter had dropped to the 40th position. Cloudflare measures website popularity by assessing the number of users that visit a domain within a specific time frame. Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince highlighted that Twitter’s traffic has significantly declined. Another web analytics company, Similarweb, also reported a similar decrease in Twitter usage since the introduction of Threads, with double-digit percentage declines compared to the previous year.

In a note, Cahall said that the most significant earnings challenges facing Fox News come from the news industry’s risks, including earnings risks and cord-cutting risks. Last week, Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall downgraded the ratings of Fox Corp. From “equal weight” to “underweight.” Additionally, Fox News is also facing lawsuits and challenges beyond their own, such as those involving Tucker Carlson and the Washington Post.

In Fox News’ new primetime programming lineup starting on July 17, Jesse Watters will take over Carlson’s 8 p.M. (ET) time slot. Despite being the highest-rated cable news network, Fox News experienced a 31% drop in their primetime viewership in June compared to the previous year. The ratings of Fox News continue to decrease.