‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ Draws Record 4.3 Million Viewers In 2Q Amid All-Time Highs For Fox News Channel

Denise Petski
Updated ·2 min read

Fox News Channel’s Tucker Carlson Tonight drew a record 4.331 million viewers in the second quarter and 791,000 in the 25-54 demo, making it the number one program in all of cable news among both total viewers and demo for the first time since launch, according to the network and Nielsen Media Research. This comes as Fox News Channel wrapped the second quarter of 2020 with the largest audience in network history in both total day and primetime, Nielsen says.

FNC’s primetime lineup of Tucker Carlson Tonight and Hannity made cable news history with both programs breaking the all-time record set by Hannity in 1Q’20 for the highest-rated quarter for any cable news program. Both programs were the first cable news telecasts to deliver over 4 million total viewers for an entire quarter and bested that number again in the second consecutive quarter.

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Tucker Carlson Tonight ratings came amid recent pullouts by some key advertisers, including Disney, T-Mobile and Papa Johns, over the host’s polarizing point of view on the Black Lives Matter movement.

Hannity scored the second highest-rated program in total viewers, averaging 4.311 million and 754,000 viewers in the coveted 25-54 demographic, respectively. The Ingraham Angle delivered nearly 3.6 million viewers and 655,000 in the 25-54 demo, earning the highest in network history in the 10 PM/ET timeslot. At 5 PM/ET, The Five dominated the hour with 3.9 million viewers and 655,000 in the 25-54 demo, coming in ahead of MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show and besting CNN and MSNBC combined in both categories in the timeslot.

Meanwhile, FNC was the most-watched network across both total day and primetime among all of basic cable, marking 16 consecutive quarters in the top spot in total day. FNC finished the quarter as the number one network in upscale cable rankings (income of $100K+) in both weekday total day and primetime among total viewers, the key 25-54 demographic and the younger 18-49 demographic.

MSNBC ranked No. 2 in cable news, beating CNN for the 13th straight quarter in total viewers (1.22M vs. CNN’s 1.19M). Total day viewership grew +34% among total viewers and +46% in A25-54 compared to 2Q19.

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