On Thursday evening, CNN host Brian Stelter claimed that Fox News, a cable news channel that regularly outperforms CNN shows by a dramatic amount, has a "loud but relatively small base" of viewers.
Stelter made the comments while speaking with fellow CNN host Don Lemon about Tucker Carlson's new special, Patriot Purge, which streams on Fox Nation.
"They do have credibility among a minority of the country, among a loud but relatively small base that is willing to tune in, that is excited to tune in at all hours and support Fox News, and read the Wall Street Journal editorial page and support the other right wing brands," said Stelter.
"So, credibility is certainly within a very short supply" for Fox News, he continued. "It's been negated among the majority of the country, but they have this base audience, this MAGA audience that is still absolutely committed," he continued.
Stelter went on to say that Fox News has a "shrinking but very, very loyal group of people."
Despite Stelter's claims, Fox News has constantly outperformed CNN’s shows, many times taking the number one spot in time slots for cable news.
In third quarter ratings compiled by Nielsen, Fox News took the top spot in prime time viewers, raking in 2.372 million viewers.
This is well ahead of MSNBC, who brought in 1.267 million viewers, and CNN, which brought in just 822,000 viewers.
All three networks experienced a decline in prime time viewership compared to last year, but Fox News lost the least, with just 32 percent fewer viewers.
MSNBC went down 40 percent, and CNN went down 46 percent.
Fox News has also gained credibility, according to an August survey conducted by Brand Keys and published by Media Post. From February to August of this year, Fox News rose three percent to 89 percent saying they trust Fox News. CNN dropped five percent to 87 percent, dropping behind Fox News.
Stelter himself has been beat out in viewership by Fox News, and even by reruns of popular 80s and 90s tv shows.
Last week, Reliable Sources, Stelter's show, marked its lowest-rated week of the year in the key 25-54 demo with only 85,000 viewers in this category, according to Nielsen Media Research. The show also lost to Fox News' 11am counterpart MediaBuzz, who received 1,473,000 total viewers and 157,000 in the key 25-54 demographic.
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