Tucker Carlson continues to remain at the top of the media hierarchy – in spite of the fact he is no longer on traditional television and has migrated his entire operation over to Twitter.
Given the fact that the former Fox News host was cable’s most-watched prime-time draw, that should surprise very few people.
Carlson challenged Washington’s establishment politics and major players from behind a network desk from 2016 until he was unceremoniously cut by Fox News in April, without any explanation to his fans.
More than three million people tuned in to an average broadcast of “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” In the show’s absence, the network is down across the board.
Fox News has paid for its inexplicable decision to cut its star and has lost, on average, about one million viewers.
The network is now struggling to compete with MSNBC for a viewership market that is shrinking all the time.
Cable news as an institution is, in fact, dying a slow death.
But on Tuesday, the day former President Donald Trump was indicted in the Justice Department’s politically-motivated probe into his handling of classified documents, Fox News was able to draw in enough viewers to take the top spot.
According to Nielsen ratings reported by Mediaite, the network won Tuesday in prime time with an average of 2.42 million total viewers.
MSNBC was a close second, with 2.41 million total viewers, while CNN averaged fewer than one million viewers.
Newsmax, which has positioned itself as a fierce competitor to Fox News, was even buoyed by its coverage of the indictment.
Eric Bolling’s 8 p.m. ET show, for example, was watched by an estimated 832,000 people.
Newsmax and Fox News each carried Trump’s post-indictment remarks, which arguably lifted both networks.
But while the cable news networks fight over a cable-watching public that numbers anywhere between only five and six million people on average, the third episode of Carlson’s new Twitter show again exposed him to tens of millions of people.
Carlson’s 13-minute coverage of Trump’s indictment on social media had racked up almost 90 million views as of Thursday afternoon.
Ep. 3 America’s principles are at stake pic.twitter.com/eJNSUVvvqY
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 13, 2023
Does that mean almost 90 million people watched the episode?
Most likely, no.
Twitter does not make data available regarding individual views on clips or how many people watched a video in its entirety.
Carlson’s video also has the benefit of being on-demand, as it is currently sitting at the top of his Twitter profile The video also showed up in the feeds of users if people follow Carlson or shared the post.
While we can’t be completely sure of how many people did watch Carlson’s 13-minute special, it is his reach that is the story.
Carlson’s Twitter show offers him an audience that is much larger than Fox News could ever have offered him, and is bigger than every network on cable television combined.
While Fox News cast him aside and reportedly wants him to stop talking, Carlson continues to dominate the discussion. He is reaching more people than he ever did before.
No single host on his former network or any of its competitors can stake such a claim.
Carlson was a slam dunk to bring loyal viewers to wherever he ended up.
He is strongly in demand in a media landscape driven by contrived narratives, false reporting, conflicts of interest and blatant omissions of facts.
His operation on social media is proof that quality independent journalism combined with emerging technology is the future of news.
The numbers speak for themselves.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
