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Not Even Tucker Carlson’s Fox News Firing Could Save Newsmax BOTTOM FEEDING Justin Baragona

Senior Media Reporter Updated Dec. 28, 2023 9:53AM EST Published Dec. 27, 2023 8:03PM EST An animation of Tucker Carlson and the Newsmax logo. Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty

Just a few months ago, Newsmax was riding high. The MAGA network watched its ratings soar after disgruntled Fox News viewers ditched the conservative cable giant after it shockingly fired Tucker Carlson.

Exploiting the MAGA rage against Fox over kicking its top right-wing star to the curb, Newsmax leaned even harder into its already over-the-top pro-Trump ethos, bluntly signaling to viewers that this was the channel to turn to for all their conservative comfort content needs. They even went so far as to not-so-subtly suggest that Carlson could potentially join their airwaves.

The gambit worked—for a while.

Newsmax’s primetime viewership jumped from 113,000 in March to 298,000 in May, the first full month after Carlson’s firing. The network’s weeknight offerings even beat CNN head-to-head on several occasions during the spring and summer months—and, of course, Newsmax crowed about it the entire time.

To appeal further to conservative cable bingers weaning off Fox, Newsmax decided to copy their rival’s most popular show, debuting a blatant knockoff of The Five in May. Elsewhere, the network gave sitting Republican congressmen opportunities to host hour-long blocks of primetime TV, going further than even the Murdochs would ever dare in acting as the GOP’s de facto propaganda arm.

Eventually, though, those hot ratings plateaued. Much like the sugar high Newsmax experienced following the 2020 election, a product of the channel’s headlong dive into Trump-endorsed conspiracies about “rigged” voting machines (eventually opening itself up to defamation lawsuits), the post-Tucker surge could only last so long. Especially since Carlson has essentially decided to become a Twitter podcaster and turn his back on cable altogether.

Newsmax hit its highwater mark in the third quarter of this year, drawing 276,000 primetime viewers—a 54-percent bump from the previous year and a 12-percent increase over the prior quarter, which is when the post-Tucker bounce first began. Additionally, the channel drew 27,000 in the key advertising demographic of adults aged 25-54, a 35-percent year-over-year growth in primetime and a slight four percent jump from the second quarter. (While its cable news competitors also largely rely on senior citizens to tune in, Newsmax’s viewership skews very old.)

The network’s total day numbers also reached their zenith in the third quarter, with the channel drawing 169,000 viewers overall and 16,000 in the key demo, experiencing solid year-over-year growth and a double-digit increase from the prior quarter.

At the same time, while Newsmax saw big jumps compared to 2022, the Trumpy channel’s viewership was still ultimately on par with other second-tier channels like the Fox Business Network or NewsNation, and far behind stalwarts like Fox News and MSNBC. But based on the double-digit increases in viewers they saw on a quarterly basis, it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility they could soon seriously compete with the Big Three.

That didn’t happen, though.

After reaching its monthly peak of 298,000 primetime viewers in August, Newsmax saw a gradual decline to a nightly audience of 202,000 through the first three weeks of December. In the demo, Newsmax’s primetime viewership fell to just 11,000 viewers this month, down 31 percent compared to last month’s, which was already down 45 percent from October.

The channel’s fourth-quarter primetime ratings, meanwhile, have dropped 14 percent compared to the previous quarter, though they are still up significantly compared to 2022 (when Newsmax was experiencing a downward trend). Newsmax’s nightly viewership is even down four percent compared to the second quarter, which only partially included the Tucker firing bump.

The downturn has come at a bad time for Newsmax, as it attempts to convince viewers to pay for a live stream that was previously available for free until two months ago.

Earlier this year, Newsmax engaged in a carriage fee dispute with DirecTV, eventually resulting in the satellite provider dropping the channel from its lineup for a few months. While Newsmax attempted to frame the blackout as “anti-conservative censorship,” the real issue centered on the network offering its live programming for free on its website and other platforms.

In order to avoid running afoul of its new “cable agreements,” Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy announced the launch of Newsmax+, which costs $4.99 per month or $49.99 per year to access the channel’s programming outside of paid TV providers.

However, seemingly in an effort to placate customers who’d long tuned in for free online, the network is now offering a separate free streamer with alternative programming not aired on the main channel. Newsmax2, as it’s called, offers shows hosted by the likes of disgraced Fox News anchor Ed Henry and ex-Fox News legal analyst Andrew Napolitano, who was fired from the network following allegations of sexual harassment. The streaming service also airs the nightly podcast of Rudy Giuliani, who keeps getting himself into legal trouble with his Newsmax rants.

In fact, the network’s main programming lineup—which it is leaning on to compete with Fox News—is composed almost solely of rejects from Murdoch World. And that in itself could be a key issue with trying to offer up a credible Fox alternative for conservatives.

Starting at 6 p.m., the network airs four hours straight of shows hosted by ex-Fox News anchors. After the early-evening offering by Greta Van Susteren, who left Fox in 2016 and joined Newsmax last year, former Fox News morning host Rob Schmitt mans the channel’s 7 p.m. hour.

While Schmitt is well-honed in the channel’s bombastic MAGA messaging, it is Eric Bolling and Greg Kelly who have really set the tone for the cartoonish pro-Trump sycophancy—and these two ex-Fox Newsers (with checkered pasts) anchor the 8 to 10 p.m. block before handing off to the The Right Squad, the network’s attempt at a Five-like panel show.

It would appear that the network also realizes that relying on a cadre of faded cable news stars and warmed-over ideas from larger competitors may not be the best long-term plan to retain a dedicated audience.

After debuting in the coveted 9 p.m. slot this spring, The Right Squad—hosted by CNN correspondent turned right-wing radio talker Chris Plante—was eventually switched with Kelly’s show and moved to a later time slot. The move came after the show lost 30 percent of its audience just a couple of months after its premiere, with Newsmax insiders noting Plante’s “awkward” and “uncomfortable” on-air presence.

Even if Newsmax can right the ship and continue to incrementally increase its market share, it may not matter. Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6-billion defamation lawsuit against the network goes to trial in September. And it is a fair assumption that the bottom-feeding MAGA channel doesn’t have $787.5 million laying around to settle it.