“Fox & Friends” continues to pull away from the competition in the ratings race since President Trump was elected – drawing more than twice the viewership of reeling rival MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” — which has lost nearly half its audience, according to the latest Nielsen figures.
Fox News’ perennially top-ranked morning show pulled in an average 1.5 million viewers between Nov. 6 and last Friday — a 29% increase over its ratings from last Jan. 1 to the Nov. 5 election, the data showed.
By comparison, “Morning Joe” has seen its audience shrink by 40% in the post-election period — from 1.1 million before the Nov. 5 election to just 651,000 from Nov. 6 until this past Friday, according to Nielsen figures.
The struggling show, hosted by Joe Scarborough and wife Mika Brzezinski has even been beaten by left-leaning rival CNN in the key 25-54 demographic the past two months, the data show.
“Fox & Friends,” which has maintained its first-place standing in the ratings for more than two decades, also outpaced “Morning Joe” in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 age demographic. Prior to the Nov. 5 election, the show was drawing on average 160,000 viewers in the demo.
Since Nov. 6, that number has surged by 21% — to 193,000 viewers, according to Nielsen.
The popularity of “Fox & Friends” is even outpacing morning shows on network television in certain markets, according to the latest Nielsen figures.
The show has drawn bigger audiences than either ABC’s “Good Morning America” or “CBS Mornings” in 30 markets, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Boston, Washington, DC, Detroit and Cleveland.
“Morning Joe,” meanwhile, has been hemorrhaging viewers in the 25-54 demographic. Prior to Nov. 5, the show was averaging 123,000 viewers in that age group. Since then, that number has shrunk to just 67,000 viewers, per Nielsen.
The couple have struggled to win back viewers after revealing they visited Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort following his historic rout over Vice President Kamala Harris.
They were eviscerated for “kissing the ring” — despite calling Trump a “fascist” in the months leading up to the election.
The network’s morning show woes comes amid upheaval in primetime after new MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler canned Trump-bashing anchor Joy Reid as part of a wider shakeup.
An MSNBC spokesperson tried to put a positive spin on the cratering ratings at “Morning Joe,” noting the show has seen its total viewership increase since Inauguration Day by 17% — from 587,000 in the period between Nov. 5 and Jan. 20, to 684,000 since Jan. 20.
In the 25-54 demographic, “Morning Joe” is averaging 24% more viewers since the inauguration — 68,000 compared with 55,000 prior to Jan. 20, the rep added.
MSNBC noted that “Morning Joe” continued to command a larger overall audience than CNN in February — the 120th consecutive month that it has done so.
Lagging behind in a distant third is CNN’s “This Morning” and “CNN News Central.”
In the period that preceded the Nov. 5 election, the network drew an average of 352,000 total viewers between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. ET.
Since Nov. 6, however, the total viewership of the three-hour bloc on CNN dipped by 24%, to just 268,000 people.
The Warner Bros.-Discover-owned network has also been losing audience share in the 25-54 age demographic, Nielsen figures show.
Prior to the election, 75,000 people in the demo tuned in to “This Morning” and “CNN News Central.” Since the election, that number fell by 32% to 51,000 people.
But CNN’s morning crew is making gains against MSNBC.
In a surprise development, “CNN News Central” outperformed “Morning Joe” in the 25-54 age demographic for the second straight month in February, according to Nielsen ratings.
“CNN News Central” scored an audience of 79,000 in the 25-54 demographic this month compared to just 73,000 for “Morning Joe,” according to Nielsen figures.
CNN also touted its total daytime numbers, which beat MSNBC for the fifth consecutive month in February. According to Nielsen, CNN daytime drew 83,000 total viewers, compared to just 67,000 for MSNBC.
Fox News is owned by Fox Corp — corporate sister to The Post’s parent company News Corp.
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