DeSantis launch interview nets 30 percent audience bump for Fox News

Fox News received a big ratings bump Wednesday night, thanks to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R)’s first live television interview after officially launching his 2024 campaign for president.

DeSantis sat for a wide-ranging interview for a half-hour with former South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy (R), who serves as a weekend host on Fox News, filling in this week for its 8 p.m. hour that has been dubbed “Fox News Tonight.”

The interview netted an average of 2 million viewers, including 186,000 in the key 25-54 age demographic, the most of any program on cable news that evening.

Fox has experienced sharp ratings declines during the 8 p.m. hour since ousting former top host Tucker Carlson, whose conservative and at times controversial commentary consistently brought in around 3 million viewers per weeknight.

Fox remains the top-watched network on cable, with popular shows like “The Five” and “Gutfeld” outperforming top programs on competitor networks.

DeSantis’s interview with Gowdy came just minutes after a rocky rollout event with Elon Musk on a “Twitter Spaces” live stream, which at its peak never topped 1 million listeners after 20 minutes of technical difficulties and connectivity issues.