When Megyn Kelly left Fox News for NBC, pundits proclaimed it a masterstroke.
She was a hot name after her feud with Donald Trump.
But just weeks into her tenure at NBC, Kelly is suffering a fate she never imagined.
The ratings are in for the latest episode of her Sunday night news magazine program.
And it is not good.
Kelly’s latest offering drew the smallest audience in the program’s brief history so far.
Granted the program did air two hours later than normal due to the delayed NASCAR race, but the 2.71 million viewers who tuned in was less than a 3 year-old episode of Dateline that aired in place of Kelly’s show a few weeks ago.
And once again, Kelly’s show also drew fewer viewers than reruns of America’s Funniest Home Videos and 60 Minutes.
Breitbart reports:
“NBC’s Megyn Kelly could not even get 3 million total viewers this week, hitting another new low as her sunday newsmagazine show’s ratings continue to plummet.
Because of NASCAR’s rain-delayed and caution-filled Brickyard 400 race on Sunday, Kelly’s show aired at 9 p.m instead of 7 p.m. But she could not hold some of NASCAR’s audience, as Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly got just 2.71 million total viewers, down from her previous low of 3.1 million total viewers last week, according to Nielsen data.
She slightly improved in the 18-49 demo, getting a .5 rating compared to her .4 rating the previous two weeks. But, as Breitbart News has noted, absence did not make the heart grow fonder for Kelly.
Kelly took a week off during the Fourth of July holiday weekend, and she has failed to beat the years-old Dateline rerun that ran that weekend in total viewers and the key demo since her return. That years-old Dateline rerun got 3.73 million total viewers and a .5 rating in the key demo.
Since Kelly’s return, she has gotten 3.21 million total viewers, followed by 3.1 million total viewers, followed by 2.71 million total viewers. Though her show aired two hours later this week, it again got fewer viewers than reruns of 60 Minutes and America’s Funniest Home Videos.
As Breitbart News has pointed out, “Kelly’s disastrous ratings, in addition to giving Matt Lauer job security, have led executives to wonder whether her Sunday night program will even come back on the air after football season.”
The latest ratings disaster could be the final nail in the coffin for Kelly’s show.
NBC will soon begin televising Sunday night NFL games.
That means her show is scheduled for a month’s long hiatus.
Kelly is also scheduled to begin her daytime talk show in late September.
This schedule would allow NBC to quietly cancel her failed news magazine show while trumpeting her debut as the new host of the Today Show’s 9 AM hour.
It would be a face saving gesture.
But it is quite a fall from grace for Kelly who once drew accolades from liberal reporters for her personal attacks on Donald Trump during the GOP Presidential debates.
