Former Fox News Channel show host Megyn Kelly told her podcast audience on Thursday that FNC's decision to fire prime time anchor Tucker Carlson is driving its viewers to Newsmax.
The statement during her Thursday program, "The Megyn Kelly Show," came in a conversation with Melissa Francis, another a former Fox News and Fox Business anchor and host who left News Corp.
"What if Tucker actually went to 8 p.m. on Newsmax — our friend Eric Bolling is there now, who we both love — and I'm just saying what if he moved to 8 and Eric moved to 9?" Kelly asked rhetorically. "Just this past week, during the 8 p.m. hour, Eric averaged 562,000 viewers. Last Tuesday he averaged 122,000.
"So, the Fox News audience is going 'click' and moving over to Newsmax right now. Imagine if it were Tucker in that spot."
Kelly preceded her remarks by saying that Newsmax was in 20 million fewer homes than Fox, which made its jump in numbers even more impressive. The actual number is 24 million fewer homes, Newsmax said.
Kelly's comment came after Fox News ended Carlson's show after his April 21 broadcast and announced the change Monday.
Fox News Channel has since seen its audience during the Carlson hour plummet, with 2.6 million tuning in Monday to watch, a figure that dropped to 1.7 million on Tuesday and only 1.3 million on Wednesday — a 59% drop from Carlson's average rating.
Fox has not announced a new host for the slot and appears to be rotating popular network figures like Brian Kilmeade.
As Kelly noted, Newsmax, conversely, has seen its average audience at 8 p.m. with "Eric Bolling The Balance" soar by 261% to an average 534,000 viewers.
Nielsen data indicates that Newsmax was drawing 57% of Fox's audience on a proportional basis Wednesday at 8 p.m.
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