Fox News daytime ratings drop by 32% in two weeks since the election



Cable news network behemoth Fox News dipped in viewership among a key demographic in recent ratings reports, and lost 32% of viewership in daytime.

Nielsen Media Research said that CNN took both top spots among the 25-54 age demographic during primetime on Friday. Anderson Cooper's show, "AC360," took the time spot with 604K viewers. Chris Cuomo's CNN show took the second highest slot.

Fox News' total viewership also fell an astounding 32% in the two weeks after the Nov. 3 election compared to its viewership the two weeks before the election.

While Fox News' viewership dropped, the viewership for CNN and MSNBC increased to near parity. In weekday average daytime viewership, Fox News garnered 1.63 million viewers, CNN received 1.68 million viewers, and MSNBC received 1.71 million viewers.

But despite the precipitous drop in daytime, Fox continues to beat the competition in total numbers of viewers during prime-time hours.

Fox News averaged 2.98 million viewers in prime time, with CNN averaging 2.05 million, and MSNBC seeing an average of 2.18 million viewers.

Critics of Fox News have excoriated the network after they called the state of Arizona for former Vice President Joe Biden on election night while most other outlets were saying the results were too close to call. The state has since been called for Biden by the mainstream news outlets.

President Trump has also turned on the cable news network and has been criticizing Fox News in favor of some of its lesser known competitors. In one instance, he appeared to refer to himself as the "Golden Goose" and blamed them for the 2020 election.

"Very sad to watch this happen, but they forgot what made them successful, what got them there. They forgot the Golden Goose," the president tweeted.

.@FoxNews daytime ratings have completely collapsed. Weekend daytime even WORSE. Very sad to watch this happen, but… https://t.co/WyQJORrjOA
— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump)1605197418.0

"The biggest difference between the 2016 Election, and 2020, was @FoxNews!" he added.

In another missive sent out in March, the president accused Fox News of not doing enough to get him and other Republicans re-elected.

Some viewers have posted on social media that they are actively seeking alternative sources of news, including the YouTube channel of BlazeTV host Steven Crowder.

Here's more about Trump criticizing Fox News:

Trump tweets a rare criticism of Fox Newswww.youtube.com

​Fox News takes a beating in post-election ratings



Cable network news behemoth Fox News took a rare beating in prime-time ratings in the week after election night, according to the latest Nielsen ratings.

Fox News garnered 5.736 million viewers for its prime-time coverage between election day and Sunday, according to ratings released by Nielsen, while CNN came slightly above Fox News with 5.941 million average viewers.

Both fell short of NBC, who averaged 6.33 million viewers partly because of the Sunday Night Football game between the New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Election night saw Fox News crushing the competition with 14.158 million average viewers in prime time. CNN saw 9.47 million viewers, with MSNBC coming in at third place with 7.661 million viewers.

Fox News has had to weather numerous incidents that have caused many of their previous fans to seek alternative news outlets, including the YouTube channel of BlazeTV host Steven Crowder.

Fox News was excoriated by allies and supporters of the president after they called the state of Arizona early on election day before any other news outlets. When pressured by online outrage to change their call, Chris Wallace said that the Fox News decision desk would not waiver in its decision to call the state. Biden currently holds a lead of just over 11,000 votes in the state.

On Monday, an off-air video of a Fox News host condescendingly dismissing comments about the election call from a guest surfaced on social media and fueled more outrage.

President Donald Trump has also criticized Fox News many times over his term, often when they don't give him what he perceives to be the best coverage.

In May, the president outright complained that Fox News was "doing nothing" to help him and other Republicans get re-elected.

Many will disagree, but @FoxNews is doing nothing to help Republicans, and me, get re-elected on November 3rd. Sure… https://t.co/Q0FEs4tqWP
— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump)1590085802.0

Prior to election night, Fox News had been crushing records with their ratings, prompting TheWrap to credit the network with delivering "the highest primetime averages in cable news history."

Here's the latest about the election:

Georgia officials announce hand recount of presidential ballotswww.youtube.com

Hot mic catches Fox News anchor's stunned response to guest criticizing media calling election for Joe Biden



A Fox News anchor was caught on a hot mic offering a stunned response to a guest who questioned the media calling the presidential election for former Vice President Joe Biden.

Anchor Sandra Smith appeared not to realize she was still on the screen as she mocked her guest on her morning show, "American's Newsroom."

"I think everybody wants to know that this was done properly and legally and we can trust the results," said attorney Cleta Mitchell.

"And I think we have to look into every one of these concerns. Remember, just because CNN says, or even Fox News says that somebody's president doesn't make them president," Mitchell said.

"What?" Smith asked.

"What is happening? Like, Trace, we've called it," she said, referring to co-anchor Trace Gallagher, who was interviewing Mitchell.

Video of the comment was circulated widely on social media:

Sandra Smith, off-air, reacts to her colleague Trace Gallagher indulging a nutjob who denies the outcome of the ele… https://t.co/Jr18tWdWMF
— Timothy Burke (@Timothy Burke)1604933417.0

That version of the video garnered over 2 million views on Monday.

Mitchell later responded on her Twitter account to the condescending response by Smith.

"Sandra Smith thinks FoxNews calling the election means Biden is President," tweeted Mitchell.

Sandra Smith thinks FoxNews calling the election means Biden is President. Forget that pesky Constitution... happy… https://t.co/iRCMjeyLhE
— Cleta Mitchell (@Cleta Mitchell)1604963465.0

"Forget that pesky Constitution... happy to be considered a nut job because I believe in the rule of law," she concluded.

Critics used the video to further pummel Fox News for what many said was a premature call for Biden winning the state of Arizona. Many Trump supporters have sworn of the network in favor of other news outlets. Fox News has stood by its call on Arizona, according to veteran journalist Chris Wallace.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a speech on the Senate floor Monday that the president had every right to litigate his concerns of the election and that the corporate media had no constitutional authority to call the election.

Chris Wallace defiantly says Fox News decision desk is 'not wavering' on Arizona call despite  'heartburn' for Republicans



Fox News host Chris Wallace said that the network's controversial early call on the presidential election in Arizona was unwavering despite social media outrage and anger from the Trump campaign.

Wallace made the comments on Thursday to Dana Perino on her Fox News show as ballots were still being counted in some states.

"At this point, the president is still trailing," said Wallace.

"Fox News has already called Arizona, it's caused a lot of heartburn in the Republican party, but I did check in with our decision desk earlier today and they're not wavering. They say that our call on Arizona is right, which puts him at 264 [electoral votes].

"And if Biden wins at this point, with 264, any of the three states I've talked about, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Georgia, he goes over the top."

Fox News appeared to call Arizona, a key swing state in the election, early on election night for Joe Biden, the Democratic challenger, despite numerous other news outlets declining to make a call.

Wallace went on to address accusations of voter fraud by the president and many of his supporters.

"Is there any hard evidence of fraud? There doesn't seem to be so far," said Wallace.

"There seem to be some allegations, but not hard evidence," he added. "And there is nothing that rises to the level that it could be enough fraud to switch votes when you're talking about thousands and thousands of vote difference between the two candidates."

Earlier Thursday Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign communications director, accused the director of the Fox News decision desk of being biased against Republicans and demanded that the channel rescind their call.

Notably, many independent and Dem-leaning pollsters, including FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver, have also criticized Fox's decision to call Arizona and have maintained that the race remains too close to call.

Wallace also said that the polling industry was "broken" by the margin between their predictions for the election and the actual results. Wallace said Democrats expected a "blue wave" but instead got a "blue ripple."

Here's the video of the comments from Wallace:

Chris Wallace addresses the elephant in the room, says that if Nevada gets called for Biden soon then Fox News will… https://t.co/yoHHVj1RrA
— Justin Baragona (@Justin Baragona)1604605604.0