Fox News Goes After Brutal Jake Tapper Ratings Plunge Amid Book Tour

Fox News went after CNN anchor and author Jake Tapper over a ratings decline that they connected to a book tour they say has resulted in a decade-low audience.

CNN and Tapper have been engaged in an all-out publicity blitz for Tapper’s book he co-authored with Alex Thompson, Original Sin, which has prompted attacks from critics of the authors, the book, and the network. Tapper and Thompson have also ventured into hostile territory during their book tour — but Tapper has not been welcome on Fox News cable programs.

Alex Thompson did appear on Fox News Sunday, which is aired first on Fox Broadcasting, and is later re-broadcast on Fox News several hours later.

That hasn’t stopped Fox personalities from assailing Tapper, and Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood just dropped a ratings report blaming the book for decreased ratings, writing, “The book has also been promoted relentlessly across CNN, but the spotlight on Tapper has seemingly failed to give him a boost in viewership”:

“The Lead with Jake Tapper” averaged 525,000 total viewers from April 28 through May 25, shedding 25% of CNN’s audience in its timeslot from the same period last year in the process.

By comparison, Fox News offerings “The Five” and “Special Report with Bret Baier” averaged 3.3 million viewers from April 28 through May 25, trouncing Tapper.

MSNBC also beat Tapper among total viewers, as programming on the progressive network averaged a little over one million viewers in the timeslot. As a result, Tapper settled for only 11% of the cable news audience share, while MSNBC managed 21% and Fox News commanded 68% during the timeframe.

It was Tapper’s lowest-rated month since August 2015.

A CNN spokesperson told Mediaite that the Nielsen ratings don’t tell the whole story:

The award-winning program The Lead with Jake Tapper reaches broad global audiences across CNN, CNN International and Max’s streaming platform. No single metric can capture the true reach and impact of a program driving the national conversation.

Flood’s report coincides with Tapper’s Original Sin debut on the New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction Bestseller List — at No. 1.