After an extraordinary run of political news, interest in the presidential election is perking up
News executives were worried for the first half of the year about consumers expressing relatively little interest in the coming election
After a desultory start to the campaign season, news outlets are starting to see interest in political news perk up because of an extraordinary run of stories over the past few weeks.
The most obvious beneficiary is Fox News Channel, which is ending July with its highest viewership than any month since November 2020, the Nielsen company said. Its audience eclipsed every other network, including broadcasters ABC, CBS and NBC.
Between July 13 and 23, former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt and accepted the Republican Party's presidential nomination. President Joe Biden dropped his bid for re-election, and Vice President Kamala Harris secured the support of enough Democrats to be the party's presidential nominee.
“We just got back and we've been gone, like, a week,” said Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's “The Daily Show” on Monday. “It's been a week, or a decade.”
