Tucker Carlson’s ad (center) with Twitter is an effort to find a suitable political platform … [+]
Associated Press
Tucker Carlson’s abrupt departure from FoxFOXA News and the recent announcement that he will launch a new show on Twitter are indicative of the challenges Carlson has faced since losing his bully pulpit. Carlson follows former Fox News stars Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly and Megan Kelly off the top-rated cable network. All three have largely disappeared from the political dialogue since they left. To maintain his relevance and impact on the political landscape and the Republican Party, Carlson must act quickly.
While Carlson remains in the media spotlight for now, the political news cycle is often in overdrive. Without a sustained and sizable platform, Carlson risks quickly losing his political relevance, as Beck, O’Reilly and Kelly have. While at Fox News, Carlson typically averaged 3 million viewers during his prime-time show, among the highest on cable television. This success will be difficult to reproduce.
Twitter is an interesting landing spot for Carlson, but it can be a minefield. Since Elon Musk became CEO of the social media company, it has been running out of cash as dozens of top marketers concerned about brand safety have pulled their ads. In late March, Musk told employees in an email that Twitter was valued at $20 billion. Musk acquired Twitter the previous October for $44 billion.
After Carlson’s derisive comments about women and race, which have damaged his personal brand, it’s doubtful that Carlson will bring much-needed new advertising dollars to Twitter. It’s even possible that more sellers will remove their ads. While at Fox News, numerous top advertisers walked away from his show. The commercial loads were often filled with promos about Fox Nation and direct response ads. Fox News told Variety that since Carlson’s departure, dozens of new vendors have been announced for the 8 pm (ET) time slot.
During his announcement, when he also criticized the mainstream media, Carlson he called his Twitter shows a new version of his TV show, which aired for the past six and a half years. Despite the announcement, Carlson remains under contract with Fox News for $20 million a year. Most importantly, Carlson is reported to have a “pay or play” clause in his contract that prohibits him from working for any rival media outlet as long as Fox News pays him. Carlson’s contract expires in January 2025, after the next presidential election.
Prior to Carlson’s announcement on Twitter, axes reported that its lawyers told Fox it had breached its contract by leaking Carlson’s texts during the Dominion Voting defamation suit. Fox News did not immediately have a comment. A spokesman for Carlson noted, “We’re not going to let Fox fix this for a year.”
In his announcement, Carlson stated, “There aren’t many platforms left that allow free speech. The last big one left in the world, the only one, is Twitter. Although the announcement gained a lot of media attention , how sustainable will it be? Twitter, while media attention craves a new owner, is no Fox News. Even Musk hasn’t been able to sustain the level of attention it had when it acquire Twitter seven months ago.
After Carlson made his announcement, Musk tweeted: “On this platform, unlike the one-way street, people are able to interact, criticize and rebut what he or anyone else might say. I also want to be clear that no we have not signed any agreement of any kind”.
Musk added: “Tucker is subject to the same rules and rewards as all content creators.”
Musk was a guest on Carlson’s Fox News show twice in the last week. It’s questionable whether Carlson will be able to join Twitter (or any other media company) as the 2024 election heats up. (Musk also made an offer to recently fired CNN anchor Don Lemon to join Twitter.)
Just as Carlson must maintain his relevance, Fox News must find a permanent replacement for Carlson. The network has rotated hosts in Carlson’s old timeslot for the first three weeks since his departure and it has been a ratings disaster, getting half of Carlson’s usual audience. The drop in ratings also affected viewership for all top-rated primetime programming.
The ratings drop is reminiscent of the post-2020 presidential election, when Fox News correctly announced that Joe Biden had carried Arizona. Ratings fell as some viewers temporarily fled to Newsmax, a cable network that supported claims of voter fraud. Since Carlson’s departure, Newsmax’s ratings during the time period have been on the rise again. Also, while Fox News has been the most-watched cable news network for more than 20 years, since Carlson’s departure, the 8:00 PM audience has fallen to its lowest level since before on September 11, 2001. (However, Fox News remains the top-rated cable. network in total day and prime time including 8 p.m.)
In the past, Fox News has been able to find suitable replacements for departing hosts, but it has taken its time. Laura Ingraham joined the primetime lineup in October 2017 after Megyn Kelly left for a short-lived tenure at NBC News 10 months earlier. Ingraham previously hosted a nationally syndicated radio show, The Laura Ingraham Show. This time, as its ratings plummet, Fox News should look for a permanent host before 10 months.
Whether Fox News will replace Carlson with another right-wing flamethrower like Carlson or a more popular, ad-friendly conservative remains to be seen. The network will have a number of right-wing options available from syndicated radio hosts to podcasters and bloggers. In its most recent earnings report earlier this week, Fox Corporation Executive Chairman and CEO Lachlan Murdoch said, “There is no change in our programming strategy at Fox News.”
CORRECTION, May 11, 2023: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Lachlan Murdoch. He is the CEO of Fox Corporation, not the CEO of Fox News.
