It took a very short time for Fox News to find a replacement for Megyn Kelly. The network gave Tucker Carlson the timeslot and he's had a few weeks to settle in. Now, new reports indicate that Tucker Carlson was probably a good choice. Actually, they indicate he was probably a great choice. The ratings are in and Tucker Carlson is nearly doubling the ratings of Megyn Kelly in the 9 p.m. ET timeslot.
The doubling of the ratings is in regards to the coveted 25-54 demographic, which advertisers prefer when marketing on cable and network TV. In that demographic, the show has bumped up from an average of 398,000 viewers to 775,000 viewers, according to The Hill. In total viewership---that is everyone watching the show, Tucker Carlson Tonight is averaging 3.73 million total viewers. That makes him more heavily watched than The Kelly File, which saw an average of 2.72 million people tune in during 2016.
Obviously, it should be noted that Tucker Carlson only has a few days under his belt. Those few days--January 11-22--are being compared to Megyn Kelly's entire run last year, so it's not exactly even comparison. In addition, hosts often get a pretty big bump during the first few weeks they are on the air. Still, it bodes well for Tucker Carlson Tonight that the numbers are up and not down.
If you know much about Fox News, you should know that it has been the highest-rated news network for a while. It does much better in Primetime and during other parts of the day than its most similar competitors, CNN and MSNBC. With that in mind, however, The Kelly File was the second-highest rated program on Fox News, following The O'Reilly Factor, so it's important to note that Tucker Carlson isn't just coming in and beating someone who was small potatoes. The Kelly File dominated, so the fact that Tucker Carlson Tonight is doing even better is an impressive feat.
Part of this could be happening because January has been a big month for politics, too. President Obama made his final address and prepared to leave the White House, and then Donald Trump was inaugurated. He has already made some big claims and signed plenty of executive orders. People are really interested in politics right now, and that may be translating in the ratings, among the other pros already listed in this article.
We'll have to wait and see how Tucker Carlson Tonight does over the next several months. I'm certainly interested in comparing the first year of Tucker Carlson Tonight to those Megyn Kelly averages, as it will give us a better scope of the news personality's popularity. Only time will tell. For now, you can tune in to Tucker Carlson Tonight on weeknights at 9 p.m. ET. To find out what else TV has coming up, take a look at our midseason TV premiere schedule.
