13 million Americans tuned into the cable network’s first Republican debate — while Tucker Carlson’s X interview with Donald Trump garnered 238 million “views”… and counting
The Republican primary debate hosted by Fox was significantly outperformed by the person who wasn’t there, Donald Trump, as the former president’s interview with Tucker Carlson on X garnered significantly more attention.
Fox announced Thursday that nearly 13 million people tuned in to the first Republican debate, which aired Wednesday from 9 to 11 p.m. ET.
Carlson’s interview with Trump had received 238 million “views” as of 6 p.m. ET Thursday. However, it is not a direct comparison. X counts a “view” each time a user scrolls past the video, even without watching anything.
Fox said Thursday the debate was “the most-watched cable TV broadcast of a non-sporting event of the year” — but the cable network’s news executives will surely be unsettled by the social media numbers.
Trump himself published an article on Truth Social in which he claimed his interview with Carlson was the most viewed interview of all time, surpassing Oprah Winfrey’s 1993 interview with Michael Jackson, which garnered 62.3 million views.
Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson recorded an interview that aired Wednesday night that conflicted with Fox News’ Republican primary debate
Trump avoided the official Republican debate on Fox News and sat down with Carlson on the former Fox News host’s X-Show
Winfrey’s interview, DC Requester As previously mentioned, Carlson’s interview with Andrew Tate was surpassed in July with over 107 million views.
Trump also boasted about the social media views, writing, “231,000,000 views and counting.” Biggest social media video ever, more than double the Super Bowl!’
The success of Carlson’s Trump interview has reignited the debate that began after his move to Elon Musk’s Twitter: Are cable news networks facing an existential threat from X and other social media platforms?
Fox News Network, America’s most-watched cable news channel, averaged about 1.1 million daily and 2.2 million prime-time viewers in the second quarter of 2023.
Carlson’s Fox show, the most-watched program, drew an average of around 3.3 million viewers in the weeks before it was discontinued.
Critics say that the metrics of
Viewers are also counted multiple times if they watch the video multiple times, while Fox knows exactly how many people watched the debate.
But for comparison, none of Fox News’ X posts about its own debate had more than 110,000 views as of Thursday morning. And that’s despite the fact that the network has 24 million followers, compared to 9.7 million for Carlson.
Compared to other televised political duels, Trump’s first presidential debate with Hilary Clinton in 2016 drew 84 million US television viewers, while his 2020 clash with Biden drew 73 million.
Evan Nierman, CEO of global crisis PR firm Red Banyan, told DailyMail.com, “It is undeniable that the Trump-Carlson sit-in was a success and a major victory for both Trump and Carlson.” There is no other way to see it.
“The fact that Trump was able to sit down with Tucker Carlson is even worse for Fox because the network’s former prime-time hero basically competed successfully with them.”
The numbers from his Trump interview could also dispel any doubts that Carlson’s X show could even come close to making the salary he earned at Fox News. He was reportedly making more than $20 million a year before his sacking.
Estimates of how much the X show will make vary wildly and there is no official figure. At the higher end of the scale, it has been suggested that he could make $4 per thousand views — meaning the Trump interview alone brought in almost $1 million.
Trump questioned why he should take the stage during a debate while his rivals are “yelling at me and yelling questions at me.” The other eight candidates for the Republican presidential nomination competed in a Fox News debate
Wednesday night’s show starring Trump will also delight Elon Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion last October before beginning the radical renaming of X
Carlson’s second best performance, his controversial conversation with Tristan Tate, reportedly garnered 100 million views, which is equivalent to $400,000. Even if X gets a percentage of the loot, the amount would still be huge.
X also has a system where advertising revenue is shared with verified users, which would further increase Carlson’s earnings, and he has also secured at least one advertising deal with a third party valued at more than $1 million.
Wednesday night’s show starring Trump will also delight Elon Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion last October before beginning the radical renaming of X.
The company has been struggling with falling ad revenue, but this will prove to advertisers that it’s still a platform worth spending money on.
Nierman added, “Elon Musk will see what Elon Musk always sees: an opportunity and opportunities for monetization.”
“He’s obviously not running away from politics, in fact he’s been running towards them since taking over Twitter and X.”
‘The [shows] that his platform can beat a major player in the political struggle.”