Fox News Wins Prime Time Ratings On First Night Without Tucker Carlson

Fox News Channel coasted to an easy win in prime time Monday night, delivering an average total audience of 2.351 million viewers on the first night without Tucker Carlson in its nightly lineup. Hours after the network announced it had parted ways with the host of Tucker Carlson Tonight, the network aired Fox News Tonight in Carlson’s 8 p.m. timeslot and the fill-in show won the hour with 2.597 million viewers.

But at 9 p.m., MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow beat Fox News Channel’s Hannity, with The Rachel Maddow Show delivering a total audience of 2.734 million viewers, followed by Hannity’s 2.531 million viewers. In the key demographic of viewers 25-54, Maddow was the highest-rated show in cable news on the night, with 356,000 viewers.

MSNBC’s strong performance in the key demo carried over into the 10 p.m. ET hour, with The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell winning with 207,000 viewers, ahead of Fox News Channel’s 197,000 viewers and CNN’s 115,000 viewers. Among total viewers, FNC’s The Ingraham Angle won the 10 p.m. hour with 1.923 million viewers, followed by The Last Word (1.673 million viewers) and CNN Tonight (618,000 viewers).

In total day ratings—on a day when cable news itself was one of the dominant stories, with both Tucker Carlson and CNN’s Don Lemon being fired by their networks—Fox News finished first with 1.69 million viewers, followed by MSNBC (1.162 million viewers) and CNN (582,000 viewers). In the key demo, Fox News won with 203,000 viewers, followed by MSNBC (144,000 viewers) and CNN (124,000 viewers).

In his last hour as co-host of CNN This Morning, Don Lemon drew a total audience of just 466,000 viewers, and the show was crushed by Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends, which had a total audience Monday morning of 1.485 million viewers. In the key demo, FNC won with 189,000 viewers—well ahead of CNN’s 105,000 viewers.