NBC host Megyn Kelly’s Sunday night news magazine has lost viewers every week since its June debut, and last weekend’s episode was no exception.
The July 16 episode of “Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly,” a spotlight on sexual harassment in Silicon Valley, raked in 3.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen data, marking the show’s lowest viewer turnout since its June debut. This past Sunday’s episode, the sixth to air, earned a 0.4 rating in the sought-after 18-49 age demographic, which means that a mere 0.4 percent of those in that age group participating in Nielsen’s rating service watched the show.
The ratings are the latest in a disappointing pattern for the show: Viewership has dropped with each episode since its debut. The show’s premiere episode, an interview with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, debuted to 6.1 million viewers, though even that lagged behind the “60 Minutes” episode airing that night.
Since then, there has been a steady decline, according to Nielsen data. The show dropped to 3.6 million viewers the next week, when Kelly interviewed sportscaster Erin Andrews, and again the next week, when Kelly’s hotly contested interview with right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones premiered to 3.5 million viewers, losing out to a rerun of a game show in the same time slot.
Speculation into why Kelly hasn’t triumphed at NBC largely hinges on her past as a Fox News host.
After skyrocketing to media stardom during the 2016 election and famously weathering personal attacks from then-GOP candidate Donald Trump, Kelly signed a multiyear deal with NBC in January and earns somewhere between $15 million and $20 million a year at the network. While she had strayed from Fox News’ right-wing worldview in recent years, she faced harsh criticism in 2010 for her obsessive focus on the fringe New Black Panther Party, and again in 2013 when she claimed that Jesus and Santa Claus were both white.
That past may be costing her the loyalty of NBC’s more left-leaning audience.
Kelly’s second NBC show, a morning show to be taped in front of a live studio audience, will begin airing Sept. 25.
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