13 million Americans tuned in for cable network’s first Republican debate – while Tucker Carlson’s X interview with Donald Trump gets 238 million ‘views’ … and counting

The Fox-hosted Republican primary debate was easily defeated by the person who wasn’t there, Donald Trump, as the former president’s interview with Tucker Carlson on X easily garnered more attention.

Fox announced on Thursday that nearly 13 million people tuned in to the first Republican telecast, which aired Wednesday from 9 to 11 p.m. ET.

Carlson’s interview with Trump had been viewed 238 million times by 6 p.m. ET on Thursday. However, it is not a direct comparison. X counts a ‘view’ every time a user scrolls past the video, even without watching any of it.

Fox declared Thursday that the debate was “the most watched cable broadcast of the year without sporting events,” but cable news executives are sure to be unsettled by the social media numbers.

Trump himself shared an article on Truth Social claiming that his interview with Carlson was the most-watched interview ever, beating Oprah Winfrey’s 1993 interview with Michael Jackson, which had 62.3 million views.

Trump eschewed the official Republican debate on Fox News for a conversation with Carlson on the former Fox News host’s X show

Winfrey’s interview, DC investigator noted, was itself beaten by Carlson’s interview with Andrew Tate in July, which was viewed more than 107 million times.

Trump also praised the views on social media, writing, “231,000,000 views, and still counting. Biggest social media video EVER, more than double the size of the Super Bowl!’

The success of Carlson’s Trump interview has revived the debate that began after he moved to Elon Musk’s Twitter: Are cable news networks facing an existential threat from X and other social media platforms?

The Fox News network, America’s most-watched cable news channel, averaged about 1.1 million daily viewers in the second quarter of 2023 and 2.2 million during prime time.

Carlson’s Fox show, the most-watched program, averaged about 3.3 million viewers in the weeks before it was cut.

Critics say X’s stats aren’t a reliable measure of success, pointing out that engagement (likes, shares, and comments) was still below 1 million as of Thursday morning.

Viewers are also counted more than once if they see the video multiple times, while Fox knows exactly how many people tuned in to the debate.

But by comparison, none of Fox News’ X posts about its own debate received more than 110,000 views Thursday morning. That’s despite the network having 24 million followers, compared to Carlson’s 9.7 million.

Compared to other political TV showdowns, Trump’s first presidential debate with Hilary Clinton in 2016 drew 84 million US TV viewers, while his 2020 clash with Biden drew 73 million viewers.

Evan Nierman, CEO of global crisis PR firm Red Banyan, told DailyMail.com: “There is no denying that the Trump-Carlson sit-down was a success and a huge win for both Trump and Carlson. There’s no other way to see it.

“The fact that Trump was able to sit down with Tucker Carlson makes Fox even worse, because the network’s former prime-time hero actually successfully competed with them.”

The numbers from his Trump interview may also dispel any doubt that Carlson’s X show could bring in anything close to the salary he earned at Fox News. He reportedly received more than $20 million a year before being fired.

Estimates of how much the X Show will earn vary wildly, and there’s no official figure. At the high end of the scale, it is suggested that he could earn $4 for every thousand views – that would mean the Trump interview alone would bring in nearly $1 million.

Trump asked why he had to go on stage during a debate while rivals were “yelling at me and shouting questions at me.” The other eight hopefuls for the Republican presidential nominee faced off in a Fox News debate

Wednesday night’s show with Trump will also delight Elon Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion last October before embarking on the radical X rebrand

Carlson’s second best performer, his controversial conversation with Tristan Tate reportedly generated 100 million views, equating to $400,000. Even after X takes a percentage of the loot, the amount would still be huge.

X also has a plan where the advertising revenue is shared with verified users, which would further increase Carlson’s revenue, and he has also signed at least one third-party advertising deal worth more than $1 million.

Wednesday night’s show with Trump will also delight Elon Musk, who bought Twitter for $44 billion last October before embarking on the radical X rebrand.

The company has struggled with declining ad revenue, but this will prove to advertisers that it’s still a platform worth investing money into.

Nierman added, “Elon Musk is going to see what Elon Musk always sees: an opportunity and ways to make money.

“Obviously he hasn’t run away from politics, in fact he’s fled to it since taking over Twitter and X.

“This (shows) that his platform can beat a major player in the political fray.”