Newsmax Is Expanding As It Challenges Fox News

NewsMax is enjoying a moment. Clearly the new conservative darling wants to prolong that moment beyond the post-election glow and well into the future.

And so, amidst a ratings surge being sustained by a seemingly endless news cycle of election challenges, the network is expanding.

Chief Executive Chris Ruddy, who founded Newsmax in 2014, said this week the channel will hire more staff in the United States and London. Since the election, Newsmax has added more than two dozen employees, and it’s hoping to pick up 30 more. The network also plans to expand weekend programming and introduce a new host in primetime.

The moves appear designed to take advantage of the viewership gains Newsmax has made after the November presidential election. Some Fox News Channel viewers were rankled by the network’s decision to call the election for Democrat Joe Biden amidst baseless claims of election fraud by President Trump. Newsmax has not called the win for Biden.

By and large, FNC remains the 800-pound gorilla of cable news, consistently ranking as not just the most-watched news network but one of the top channels overall on cable. But Newsmax has made some inroads.

Greg Kelly’s show topped FNC’s Martha MacCallum in the key news demographic of adults 25-54 for the first time this week.

Still, Fox News has the firm overall edge, coming off its most-watched November ever. An analysis by TV measurement firm Samba TV finds that over the past two weeks, Fox averaged 6.6 times as many households as Newsmax. And FNC viewers watch a lot more of the network—118.5 minutes per day, on average, versus 74 minutes a day for Newsmax.

Newsmax, which is available in fewer cable households than Fox News, has noted that its platform also includes free streams on its app and YouTube, which it says gives its total audience a significant boost.  

At a time when many media outlets are contracting, Newsmax’s expansion is notable. Rob Schmitt, a former host at Fox News, will launch a 10 p.m. show on Newsmax this month. And the network will open a bureau in Florida.

Who will watch these new offerings? Samba TV says just under half of Newsmax viewers are also heavy Fox News viewers (households in the top 20% of FNC consumption). Three-quarters of the audience is white and more likely to be older (55+).