Tucker Carlson’s interview with Kyle Rittenhouse (now 18 years old) at a BLM rally last year in Kenosha was enough to take down cable news. Rittenhouse was cleared of all charges on Friday.
“Tucker Carlson”Tonight at 8 p.m. on Monday night, 4.942 million viewers tuned in, with 891,000 coming from the key demographic of news programming, those aged 25-54. Those were the show’s best numbers since the Jan. 6 insurrection on the Capitol, and thus, the largest of Joe Biden’s presidency.
By comparison, MSNBC had 1.168 million total viewers at 8 o’clock (150,000 from the demo) and CNN got 762,000 total viewers (180,000 from the demo). Carlson beat CNN by 549% overall, and 396% in the key demo. Another way of looking at it is: “Tucker Carlson Tonight”More than twice as many people compared to its main competitor Combination.
Primetime runs from 8 to 11 p.m. ET averaged 3.458 Million viewers (611,000 for the demo) on Fox News Channel (FNC).
“Tucker Carlson Tonight”It was up 52% overall and +67% for the demo compared to its previous Q4 2021 episodes. The hour saw a 40% and 43% increase, respectively, compared to its November averages.
Year-to-date, the show had risen 56% and 70% vs. itself.
Rittenhouse spoke to Carlson in part during the long interview. “I’m not a racist person. I support the BLM movement. I support peacefully demonstrating. I believe there needs to be change. I believe there’s a lot of prosecutorial misconduct, not just in my case but in other cases. It’s just amazing to see how much a prosecutor can take advantage of someone.”
Rittenhouse also shared the following message for President Biden “Mr. President, if I would say one thing to you, I would urge you to go back and watch the trial and understand the facts before you make a statement.”
Shorter portions of Carlson’s interview with Rittenhouse ran over the weekend. As part of a larger streaming effort, more will be available. “Tucker Carlson Originals” documentary on Fox Nation in December.