Trump's Latest Fox News Interview Draws Ho-Hum Ratings
by EG
Donald Trump used to be a guaranteed ratings draw for his friends at Fox News, but that's definitely changing. His most recent interview with avid supporter Laura Ingraham on the network not only didn't produce ratings dividends, it actually lost viewers from the show's average performance. Trump's recent interview on 60 Minutes also delivered unimpressive ratings. Read on for more.
Fox News remained atop the cable-news ratings for October, but an interview with President Donald Trump on Monday's Ingraham Angle didn't move the show's ratings — already at their best ever — any higher.
Coverage of Judge Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation and the run-up to the midterm elections helped grow Fox's numbers for the month. The channel averaged 1.69 million viewers for the total day, up 16 percent from October 2017, and 332,000 in the key news demographic of adults 25-54, a 3 percent gain.
Just learned @realDonaldTrump had a tantrum with #LauraIngraham on @FoxNews. He claims the #MAGABomber was already crazy so he wasn't the cause, and does the greatest things ever and the jealous Fake News guys won't praise him.
— David Mello (@impalergeneral) October 30, 2018
Then Laura burped him and put him in his crib
The gains were bigger in primetime, with Fox News rising 25 percent overall vs. a year ago to 2.83 million viewers and 13 percent in the 25-54 demo to 540,000. Both the total-day and primetime viewer averages beat the combined numbers for MSNBC and CNN.
Well, @realDonaldTrump, your interview on #LauraIngraham was disgraceful and embarrassing. Thanks for the heads-up. #ButTheCaravan https://t.co/LKmfcAvA0l
— Melissa Sweeney (@sweeneymcqueen) October 30, 2018
MSNBC finished second for the month with 909,000 total-day viewers (up a slight 1 percent) and 1.58 million in primetime (even with October 2017). CNN is down a little year to year in total day (689,000, -5 percent) but up 1 percent in primetime at 931,000. Both networks fell by double digits in the 25-54 demo.
The president's Monday night appearance on The Ingraham Angle gave the show the biggest primetime cable-news audience at 2.92 million people. That, however, is off slightly (2 percent) from its October average of 2.97 million — the show's best month ever.
Trump's recent 60 Minutes appearance was also not a huge draw, with the CBS program down vs. both its prior NFL-fueled episode and the then-president-elect's 2016 appearance.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
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