Competing Network Delivers 'Serious Shock' to Fox

In small victory, Newsmax won in the ratings over Fox, thanks to 'Greg Kelly Reports'
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 9, 2020 9:15 AM CST
Updated Dec 13, 2020 6:45 AM CST
Newsmax Nabs First Ratings Victory Over Fox
This image shows Greg Kelly, a former personality at Fox's New York affiliate who's Newsmax's most polished broadcaster.   (Newsmax via AP)

President Trump has spent weeks directing followers to Newsmax TV, apparently with results. On Monday, the network recorded its first ratings win over Fox News. Greg Kelly Reports at 7pm ET averaged 229,000 viewers in the key 25- to 54-year-old demographic, while an average of 203,000 viewers in the demo tuned in to Fox's The Story With Martha MacCallum. Fox still leads Newsmax "by almost every conceivable metric," per CNN. But "Fox is accustomed to being No. 1 in the 25-54 demo, so losing to Newsmax, even for one hour of one day, is a serious shock." It notes Kelly's show "had barely 10,000 viewers in the 25-54 demo and 100,000 viewers overall" before the November election. Typically the highest-rated Newsmax show of the day, Greg Kelly Reports had 949,000 viewers overall on Monday.

That's not the only indicator that Newsmax is rising in the ranks. In a recent Gallup-Knight Foundation survey, 7% of respondents named the network as among two or three news sources they most rely on, up from exactly zero respondents in July of last year, per the Washington Post. Only 5% of respondents named the AP in the same survey, while 8% named the Post and CBS News. Some 27% named Fox News for "its second-lowest rate in 11 surveys," per the Post. All this looks good to Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy. "We're here to stay," he told CNN on Tuesday. "The ratings are showing that." But Nielsen data only shows so much. According to Newsmax, 6.67 million total viewers tuned in to the network's free livestream on NewsmaxTV.com last month, alongside 6.3 million viewers on YouTube, per Fast Company. (More Newsmax stories.)

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