(Newsmax) It is official. Newsmax TV surpassed both Fox Business and CNBC in daytime ratings the day after Election Day.
Nielsen reported Wednesday that Newsmax drew 287,000 average viewers per minute in the key daypart 9am to 4pm, outpacing CNBC with 285,000 viewers and Fox Business with 281,000.
Newsmax also outpaced Fox Business in primetime, with 205,000 viewers compared to 138,000.
“We’re in less cable homes, our channel position is usually not as good as competitors, and our brand is less known, yet we’re beating these guys,” Chris Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax TV said. “We have a better mousetrap and viewers are flocking to us.”
Ruddy noted Newsmax’s new programming lineup, including shows like “Greg Kelly Reports” and Sean Spicer’s “Spicer & Co.” only started this year.
“Our trajectory is like a rocket right now,” Ruddy said.
On Election Night, Nielsen reported Newsmax TV’s coverage was watched by 3 million viewers, with as many as 600,000 viewers per minute.
Nielsen also reported 1 million of Newsmax’s election night viewers watched exclusively and never tuned into Fox News or another cable news channel.
While Fox News led ratings election night, Newsmax appeared to benefit from angry, defecting viewers.
Newsmax was the first network to project Trump the winner of Florida, as Fox refused to call the state, despite more than 90% of ballots counted.
Fox’s decision to call Arizona early, with just 14% of balllots counted and without other TV networks joining their decision, led to a viewership revolt across social media.
Newsweek was the first to report on the outrage, headlining: “Conservatives Turn Against Fox News Over Election Coverage, Change Channel to Newsmax.”
Country music star’s Travis Tritt’s tweet Election Night summed up the moment:
No matter what the final results are tonight, one thing is extremely clear. @FoxNews can no longer claim to be the fair and balanced network they once were. There are a lot of biased hacks there now and a ton of folks are noticing. It’s now @newsmax for me for election results.
— Travis Tritt (@Travistritt) November 4, 2020
