NEW YORK CITY, New York — Megyn Kelly of the Fox News Channel has emerged as that network’s weak link as Fox has fallen behind CNN in the ratings for a full month for the first time since 2001.
The October ratings are out and according to The Hill newspaper, CNN beat Fox News for the first time in 15 years.
“CNN enjoyed its strongest ratings month in years in October, beating rival Fox News in the key 25-54 demographic for a full month for the first time since 2001,” The Hill’s Joe Concha wrote. “CNN averaged 704,000 prime time viewers overall in October from the ages 25-54 demographic — the most coveted group by advertisers. Fox came in second with an average of 663,000 viewers, while MSNBC averaged 432,000 viewers — an all-time high for the Comcast-owned network.”
While Kelly’s own program still finished atop cable news in the key 25-54 demographic for the month, CNN beating Fox News overall in primetime in the demo for the first time in over a decade comes as Kelly has emerged as the face as of the network thanks to the honchos in the Murdoch family.
Rupert Murdoch’s sons James and Lachlan, who have taken over 21st Century Fox, have decided—according to a Vanity Fair profile earlier in October—make Kelly the future of the network. And as they’ve rallied entirely behind Kelly, after Kelly made a move to oust Roger Ailes as the chairman of the company, alleging without evidence that he made an unwanted sexual advance against her years ago, the network’s ratings have collapsed.
Kelly has also emerged as the network’s leading anti-Donald Trump voice, using her platform to try to disparage the Republican presidential nominee and his supporters. The highest profile spat, which came last week, was a battle she had with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich over former President Bill Clinton’s alleged sexual assaults and alleged rapes.
In mid-October, Kelly continued parading her anti-Trump narrative as she’s done throughout the course of the campaign. Since she took a position against him early in the primaries in the summer of 2015, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on at least two occasions beat Kelly in both the demo and overall ratings.
“Rachel Maddow made history last week when her show beat Fox News’ The Kelly File in both total viewers and the key news demo of adults age 25-54 on Thursday… then it happened again on Friday,” The Wrap’s Brian Flood wrote on Oct. 20. “Thursday’s victory was the first time The Rachel Maddow Show has ever beaten Fox News in both categories. She averaged 609,000 demo viewers and 2.5 million total viewers. Maddow’s show debuted in 2008. The momentum continued, at least in the demo, on Monday when Maddow beat CNN and Fox News among viewers age 25-54, but fell to Megyn Kelly’s The Kelly File in total viewers.”
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