Eric Boehlert: Fox News flipped its 7 p.m. from news to opinion -- it's a ratings flop
Fox News flipped its 7 p.m. from news to opinion — it's a ratings flop
The last-place network
Eric Boehlert
1 hr ago
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Desperate to stave off its 2021 ratings slide, as disaffected Fox News viewers turn elsewhere for their right-wing misinformation following Trump's election defeat, Rupert Murdoch's channel made a key programming switch last month. Its 7 p.m. anchor, Martha MacCullum, who hosted what Fox identified as one of its serious "news side" programs, was demoted and the key time slot was handed over to a new opinion show, "Primetime."
For now, a roster of possible hosts are auditioning for the full-time time job, include “Fox & Friends” host Brian Kilmeade, Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo, and South Carolina Republican former congressman Trey Gowdy. None of them could ever be mistaken for a journalist, as "Primetime" busies itself pumping out a treadmill of lies and misinformation.
The abrupt scheduling move was seen as a slightly panicked attempt to secure faltering viewership, as Fox News' grip on its decades-long lead over CNN and MSNBC continued to weaken. But like everything else Fox tries these days, the 7 p.m. move hasn't worked. Since its debut on January 18, "Primetime" has finished in last place every night among the three cable news networks. It has finished last among viewers 35-54, the demographic that advertisers are most interested in, and it has finished last among all viewers.
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Two things are happening. First, one portion of the audience is depressed following Trump's loss, as well as his silent retreat to Mar-a-Lago. Without any social media presence, and refusing to do any media interviews, Trump has effectively disappeared from the political landscape, robbing Fox News of a chance to pump out hours and days worth of Trump programming.
Secondly, a portion of Fox's loyal base has abandoned the network in favor of fringe players, such as OAN and NewsmaxTV, which played along with Trump over the winter and pretended it wasn't possible to tell who won the 2020 election.
"Those viewers punished Fox News the moment they reported that Biden won Arizona, and they haven’t stopped," former CNN president Joe Klein told the Daily Beast. "It’s like when that chimp you raised from a baby tears your face off. Now the question is what is Rupert Murdoch willing to do to get them back?” (Fox News recently fired two key executives who oversaw the network's accurate prediction that Biden had won the Southeast state.)
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https://pressrun.media/p/fox-news-switched-its-7-pm-from-news
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