Fox News Channel’s first Democratic town hall in 12 years, was a hit with viewers. The hour-long event hosted by Bret Baier in his usual 6 p.m. timeslot was watched by 2.6 million viewers and 473,000 in the A25-54 demo. That made it the No. 1 show in the time period; up +10 percent in viewers and up +24 percent in the A25-54 demo vs. Baier’s 2016 year-to-date average for Special Report.
An 11 p.m. re-air gave it a combined viewership of 3.7 million viewers and 873,000 in the key demo.
The New York Times went behind the scenes of the town hall. “I always thought it was a mistake to ignore them,” said CNN analyst and former Obama senior strategist David Axelrod. “Obviously there’s a bent to Fox and the viewer. But they have a pretty large audience, and they’re not all conservative Republicans. There are independent voters there.”