Breakthrough: For the First Time In Its History, Newsmax Draws 1 Million+ Viewers in an Hour

Uh-oh.

This happened last week.

Newsmax broke 1 million viewers for the first time ever. 'Greg Kelly Reports' was the happy recipient of what appears to be a wave of Republican viewers changing the channel.

We are talking about a show that could measure its audience in only tens of thousands not too long ago. Now, Greg Kelly is doing half the viewership of Martha MacCallum's show. In fact, 'The Story'cgot bested by Erin Burnett's shown on CNN strongly in the key demo and the overall ratings. In other words, this isn't just about Newsmax catching up. This is about Fox News’ hard news shows clearly losing their audience while other networks gain. Yes, Tucker Carlson is still pulling in 4.5 million a night, but he is hardly indicative of what viewers are angry about at Fox News. Rather, Tucker represents one of their only saving graces with conservative viewers right now. Any attempt at deflection from Fox News by citing Tucker and their prime time hosts, a group that the hard news side apparently sneers at, is just intellectual dishonesty.

Steven Crowder had a podcast recently in which he described his observations about Fox News, when he worked there seven years ago.

He said much of the network is liberal. Obviously. He also said that among the Republicans -- and there aren't as many as you might like -- many are "New York Liberal Republicans" who want lower taxes but absolutely "hate" most of the conservative movement. Which I take to mean actual conservatives. Social conservatives, religious conservatives. Anyone who's not super ga-ga over gay weddings and abortion on demand.

Meanwhile: Rumors that Trump allies are looking to buy Newsmax outright, which would undoubtedly raise its profile still further.

Another record night for @Newsmax: For the first time, one of its shows topped the 1 million viewer mark, according to Nielsen TV ratings. "Greg Kelly Reports" averaged 1.06 million viewers at 7pm last night. Fox News averaged 2.06 million at the same hour.

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 13, 2020

More from Little Brian Stelter. Skip to 4:21 if you just want to see Little Tater.

So good:

Did you see Leland Vitter, there?

Fair and Balanced News Alternative, huh?

Oh, and of course, Howie Kurtz did what he does every Sunday -- attacking Mollie Hemingway and conservatives while supporting leftwing narratives.

He actually demands that Mollie Hemingway answer whether she "accepts the reality."

Also meanwhile:

RedState reported that Fox's ratings had dropped below MSNBC's and CNN's last Saturday.

Fox News PR sent out emails demanding RedState "correct" its report by... writing about ratings from two days later.

Fox demanded they "correct" a report about Saturday the 7ths ratings by... replacing them with the ratings from Monday the 9th and Tuesday the 10th?

ollowing Bonchie's column about the weekend performance, we received an email from the Fox News PR division. They gave us the rating from the past few nights, and then asked that we run a follow-up, "to correct the record.’" This was wrongheaded on two counts.

First, there is nothing to correct, since we had given the figures from Saturday which showed Fox News dropping from its former perch atop the ratings. Providing numbers from days later in no way alters or invalidates the clear shift in the viewers. The second issue is with the press release they provided to supposedly show we were incorrect. In it the copy touts Monday’s glorious ratings, stating how "Tucker Carlson Tonight" Tops all of Cable News. This was itself an accurate boast, but it also shows the misguided mindset going on at the network.

He goes on to note that Tucker Carlson is calling out the Fox "News" division for censoring the news.

So Tucker Carlson's ratings are in part due to Tucker Carlson attacking the Fox News "news" division.

It is true that Fox News, as usual, is lifted by its opinion hosts.

But people are abandoning their habit viewing -- or, Bad Habit Viewing -- of the Fox "news" division's daytime programming, including the onetime flagship Special Report.

Is this the advice they're getting from their crisis communications firm? Kinda-sorta threaten actual conservatives?

By the way, Brad Slager at RedState links this flashback to 2019.

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan thinks his new job as a board member of Fox Corporation will finally allow him to "do something" about President Donald Trump, according to a new report in Vanity Fair.

"Paul is embarrassed about Trump, and now he has the power to do something about it," a Fox executive told Vanity Fair.

posted by Ace at 03:11 PM

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