The Beginning of the Decline: Don Lemon’s show witnessed a meteoric drop in viewership following the initial surge generated by his interview with Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk.
Don Lemon Show’s video views on X (formerly Twitter) have plummeted dramatically after the highly-publicized Musk interview, with the latest episodes failing to retain the initial viewership numbers.
Lemon kicked off his new TV show with the Musk interview, creating an internet frenzy due to the intense questioning that transpired between the two personalities.
An analysis reveals that the viewership for the subsequent four episodes that Lemon posted after the Musk interview is a mere fraction, accumulating less than 20% of the total views garnered by the Musk encounter.
The Musk interview stands tall with over 2.3 million views, while the combined views of the following episodes amount to 453,600, depicting a stark decline.
The fifth episode, featuring Ambassador Linda Thomas Greenfield, has recorded just over 26,000 views since it aired on Monday.
In stark contrast, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has been consistently amassing almost 60 million views from the last ten episodes he posted on X, averaging around 6 million views per episode, which is more than double that of Lemon’s most successful episode.
These figures solely pertain to full episodes and do not include the shorter clips that Carlson regularly shares.
The episode that followed the Musk interview, featuring veteran journalist Kara Swisher, which also focused on Musk, is ranked as the second most-viewed episode on Lemon’s show to date.
The Significance: The Lemon-Musk fallout ensued after Musk decided to decline a proposed content deal.
Lemon accused Musk of terminating the agreement after extensive negotiations, while Musk retaliated by referring to the host as “uninspiring” and “unimpressive” in the aftermath of their contentious dialogue.
Reports suggest that Lemon had presented exorbitant demands, including a complimentary Tesla Cybertruck, a $5 million upfront payment in addition to an $8 million salary, equity in X, and more.
The Lemon Show’s viewership decline reflects the aftermath of a clash between two prominent figures that left an indelible mark on the show’s trajectory.