Newsmax takes advantage of Carlson's departure from Fox to overtake CNN in prime time

Newsmax is crushing the competition and last Friday became the third highest rated news channel in the country in prime time. Nielsen' s top ratings data for Friday, May 12 show that the network outperformed CNN in every major hour of the day. At 8:30 p.m. ET "Eric Bolling The Balance" won the hour with. 467,000 impressions, far outperforming CNN's"Anderson Cooper 360" with 447,000, according to Nielsen.

Newsmax has witnessed a consistent and positive trend for weeks and we expect tremendous interest in the network as we approach the GOP primaries and with the election on the 24th," said Christopher Ruddy, CEO of Newsmax.

The 9 p.m. hour was similarly well received by the public. Newsmax's new program "Chris Plante The Right Squad" garnered an audience of 325,000 impressions, beating CNN's "Whole Story" with 293,000. And at 10 p.m. "Greg Kelly Reports" returned to the top spot with 278,000 viewers, in front of Chris Wallace, who gave CNN an audience of only 263,000.

Newsmax has experienced strong growth in its audience , at the same time that internal clashes and turmoil are raging at CNN. CNN's Town Hall program featuring former President Donald Trump had some very good spikes in viewership, but was short-lived.