One month in, Shepard Smith’s CNBC ratings look like a Joe Biden rally
Former Fox News anchor Shepard Smith’s new CNBC show, “The News with Shepard Smith” is in a continual ratings freefall.
Announced in June and premiering in September, Smith’s new gig doesn’t appear to be going so well. In fact, BizPac Review reported that in its first week, “The News” was even overshadowed by a daily re-run of “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on Fox Business.
Now, the numbers look even worse.
The newscast promising to “provid[e] deep, non-partisan coverage and perspective on the day’s most important stories” has “consistently been at the bottom of the barrel for 7 p.m. cable ratings and averaged 269,000 viewers between Sept. 30 – Oct, 23,” according to Nielsen Media Research.
For context, the now-defunct “Shepard Smith Reporting” on Fox would see an average of “1.3 million total viewers and 195,000 in the key demographic,” says BizPac.
The premier show only managed to draw in a paltry 373,000 viewers and by October 1, that number had dropped to 321,000. Week two saw 268,000, week three had 254,000, and week four – one month in – drew a measly 242,000.
In the key demographic of ages 25-54, the show is seeing an extremely poor turnout of 58,000 viewers, dropping to 49,000 in week four.
It may not be surprising to conservatives and long-time Fox News viewers who remember Smith’s behavior while on the popular network. In fact, most remember his criticism of the president, his increasingly-frequent on-air meltdowns, and his spats with fellow Fox hosts.
Here are just a few of Shep Smith’s editorials disclosed https://t.co/asf07AOf8L
— Nomon R Kennedy (@NomonKen) October 12, 2019
Despite the dismal showing, CNBC is still publically standing behind Smith and his show, touting “very positive feedback from viewers,” in a statement:
We are pleased with the launch of The News with Shepard Smith and have received very positive feedback from viewers. Not only is CNBC a new entrant in the general news genre, but news viewers are creatures of habit and it takes a long time to change those habits. That said, the newscast far exceeds the audience of The Kudlow Report, which was the last regular news program to air on CNBC in the 7p hour back in the first quarter of 2014. We will continue to fight for every viewer every weeknight.
But on Twitter, users have a much different view:
That’s what happen when you cheer for the wrong side….
— USArt (@usart04) October 27, 2020
Not surprisingly as he is a propaganda machine for the state run media of the left.
— so what (@JudyAdvocate) October 27, 2020
He’s on TV? Huh? ?♂️
— Jmajic (@Jmajic1) October 27, 2020
The medium (Fox) was the message.
— flyoverland (@flyoverland) October 27, 2020
I can’t imagine why?
— Mike Palumbo (@askmikepalumbo) October 27, 2020
It appears that Smith is going to have an uphill battle when it comes to increasing viewership, and that many Fox News viewers are not exactly willing to give him a second chance.
