Newsmax Scores Ratings Victory Over Fox News Channel

By Brian Trusdell (NEWSMAX)

Newsmax TV scored its first ratings victory over rival Fox News Channel, eclipsing the Murdoch-owned outlet in a key demographic on Monday night.

“Greg Kelly Reports,” which airs 7-8 p.m. EST, beat “The Story with Martha McCallum” in the 25- to 54-year-old audience demographic. Kelly drew an average of 229,000 viewers for the hour while McCallum pulled in 203,000, CNN reported.

“We’re here to stay,” Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy said Tuesday evening to CNN. “The ratings are showing that.”

Newsmax TV has shown exponential growth in viewership since Nov. 3, a trend media outlets have attributed to resentment at Fox News for its coverage of the election. That included a decision to call Arizona for Joe Biden, a decision many Fox News devotees called extremely premature.

Several mentions by President Donald Trump have likely helped as well, including on his Twitter feed and at a Saturday rally in Valdosta, Georgia, where he played a short clip from “Stinchfield” on a giant video screen.

CNN called the ratings win a “milestone,” also noting that Monday’s total average for viewers was 949,000, according to Nielsen. It explained that the 25-54 audience demo is critical since it is the most looked at by advertisers.

Ruddy noted that Newsmax is also streamed on a variety of platforms not measured by Nielsen.

Earlier this month, Nielsen showed Newsmax TV outdistancing Fox Business and CNBC between 6 p.m. and midnight, downloads of the Newsmax exceeded a half million and its website also was seeing significant growth.