Fox News has lost half its 8 p.m. audience in just days since Tucker Carlson's firing

• Fox News has lost about half of its 8 p.m. audience in the days following Tucker Carlson's firing.
• 1.33 million viewers tuned in on Wednesday, compared to 2.65 million for Carlson's unexpected final show last Friday.

Viewership for the 8 p.m. hour of Fox News, a prime-time television spot occupied by Tucker Carlson for years, has plummeted by half in the days since the anchor was suddenly fired Monday.

Ratings data from Nielsen reported by CNN's Oliver Darcy show a minor dip on Monday, possibly because many viewers were unaware Carlson had been fired when they tuned in for the night, followed by much sharper drops Tuesday and Wednesday.

Carlson's last show Friday drew 2.65 million viewers, itself down from the other four days of last week which each topped 3 million, and Tuesday and Wednesday this week fell to 1.7 million and 1.33 million viewers, CNN reported.

The dip in viewership marks one of the first times in years that Fox lost viewers between the 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. shift, and the worst non-holiday Wednesday ratings in that time slot for viewers aged 25-54 since before 9/11, CNN reported.

The viewers appear to be opting for other conservative networks, as Darcy reported that Newsmax's 8 p.m. hour totaled 510,000 viewers, tripling the audience they drew at the same time last Wednesday. The right-wing alternative to Fox has also been using its airtime to accuse Fox and the Murdoch family of caving to "the left" by firing Carlson, according to the New York Times.

Fox has not publicly confirmed a reason for why Carlson was dismissed from the network, and theories have abounded with possible explanations for his departure.

Speculations around his ousting range from the anchor's text messages regarding Fox News's coverage of former president Donald Trump revealed during the Dominion lawsuit, to allegations that Carlson was unpleasant to work with and used vulgar language when discussing Sidney Powell, a lawyer who was central to Trump's baseless claims of voter fraud.

The Washington Post reported that his removal may have been influenced by his coverage of the war in Ukraine, and particularly his support for Ukraine ceding territory to Russia to end the war. Others have speculated it was a decision made by Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corporation, and that Rupert's son Lachlan played a key role in the decision.