Tucker Carlson Tonight had the highest ratings of any cable news show in history in the month of October.
The program, hosted by Tucker Carlson during the 8 p.m. hour, averaged 5,359,000 viewers nightly, including 1,003,000 in the key 25-54 age demographic that marketers covet, according to Nielsen Media Ratings. While the total ratings made cable news history, he also became the first prime-time host to reach 1 million viewers in the 25-54 demo since September 2008.
Carlson will be interviewing Hunter Biden’s ex-business partner, Tony Bobulinski, on Tuesday night. He has alleged that former Vice President Joe Biden was aware of his son’s pursuit of Chinese business deals despite the 2020 Democratic nominee’s claims to the contrary. He made headlines last week amid reporting based on contents of a laptop and hard drive that purportedly belonged to Hunter Biden, which contained emails and other data detailing his foreign business dealings.
Joe Biden has responded to the allegations, claiming that they are part of a “smear campaign.” Democrats and former intelligence officials have said the story reeks of Russian disinformation, something that Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe has said there is no evidence to back up.
The interview is set to take place one week before Election Day, and Carlson said on his show Monday the interview will include details “that have not been out there yet,” which he claimed are being suppressed by the media.
Carlson is not the only host to experience a boost in ratings last month. Sean Hannity had the second-largest audience, averaging 5,119,000 viewers a night, while the network’s third prime-time cable news host, Laura Ingraham, had slightly more than 4 million viewers. The Fox News lineup consistently beats out competitors on cable news networks, including CNN and MSNBC.
In all, the three Fox News prime-time hosts collectively averaged 4,900,000 viewers, which is good for an 83% increase from October 2019.
