Newsmax outpaced Fox News in ratings for the first time ever this week.
On Monday during the 7 p.m. hour, Newsmax’s Greg Kelly Reports outrated The Story with Martha MacCallum on Fox News among the coveted demographic of 25- to 54-year-olds.
Kelly’s show averaged 229,000 viewers among the demographic, while MacCallum’s show averaged 203,000 viewers.
The narrow win comes after President Trump has voiced his displeasure with Fox News following the election. This weekend, he told his Twitter followers that watching football games where players kneel during the national anthem is better than watching Fox News’s daytime lineup.
“.@FoxNews daytime is not watchable. In a class with CNN & MSDNC. Check out @OANN, @newsmax and others that are picking up the slack. Even a boring football game, kneeling and all, is better!” the president tweeted Sunday afternoon.
.@FoxNews daytime is not watchable. In a class with CNN & MSDNC. Check out @OANN, @newsmax and others that are picking up the slack. Even a boring football game, kneeling and all, is better!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 6, 2020
Just last month, however, Fox News prime-time stars launched the network to have its highest-rated November ever.
Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity both broke records in ratings last month, while Laura Ingraham continued besting other female cable news hosts, holding on to her title as the highest-rated female host in cable news.
“Additionally, FNC’s entire primetime lineup remains up double-digits year over year, with Tucker Carlson Tonight seeing increases of 49 percent with total viewers and 85 percent with A25-54, Hannity up 39 percent in total viewers and 89 percent with A25-54, and The Ingraham Angle experiencing a 34 percent increase with total viewers and 80 percent with A25-54,” Fox News said in a press release.
Newsmax has grown its viewership since the election. The network averaged 58,000 viewers from 7 to 10 p.m. on weekdays from July to before the election and jumped to 568,000 average viewers after the election.
“They don’t know what to do with all of us,” Newsmax television personality Grant Stinchfield said in November. “We’re killing it here on Newsmax with a tactic they’ve never tried. It’s called the truth, the stone-cold truth, and once you get a taste of it, you will never tolerate being lied to again.”
Fox Corporation’s chief financial officer Steve Tomsic addressed the competition on Tuesday, saying, “We feel super confident about Fox News being able to compete in any environment going forward.”
“I think when people think about competition, they sort of, their knee jerk reaction is to think, ‘Well, all we need is two or three talking heads to go head to head with ours.’ The business is much bigger than that,” Tomsic said.
He added that Fox “has stood the test of time, and every time there’s been skepticism about what the future looks like, we’ve pierced through and hit another high.”
The Story with Martha MacCallum on Monday bested Newsmax’s Greg Kelly Reports in total audience, coming in with 1.59 million viewers to Newsmax’s 949,000.
