UPDATE:
Several hours after this post was originally published, Tucker announced he will be bringing his show to Twitter. “Starting soon we will be bringing a new version of the show we have been doing for the past 6 1/2 years, to Twitter.”
Watch Tucker’s full announcement video:
The rest of this article was written before the announcement, but it’s worth reading to see how much we nailed this analysis.
A three-letter Tweet from Twitter owner Elon Musk and some unsourced claims in the media have the Internet speculating that the social media company could be the place where conservative superstar Tucker Carlson lands now that he’s been exiled from Fox News.
Since Musk took over Twitter, he’s made several public statements about Twitter’s potential to expand into longform video content, streaming content, and more content-delivery options that would allow content creators to connect with audiences — and monetize.
In the aftermath of Carlson’s abrupt departure from Fox News, most of the speculation has been about why Fox News would ditch their most-watched talent. But second to that is the guessing game as to where Carlson goes next.
The industry scuttlebut only increased after Carlson, in his first public statement following his ouster, posted a video to Twitter.
That tweet has been seen by more than 81 million Twitter users. The video itself has been watched by more than 24 million people. To put that in perspective, Carlson averaged more than 3 million viewers in his final week on Fox News.
Two days ago, Axios reported that Carlson was ready to go on the offensive against his former employer. Included in that story was an unsourced claim that Musk and Carlson have had a conversation about working together.
Importantly, Carlson wouldn’t necessarily have to become an employee of Twitter in order to leverage the platform as an independent creator.
If Musk made a few simple changes to the platform that allowed users like Carlson to stream and monetize their programs, then the same show Carlson offered on Fox News could come directly to smartphones and web browser across the planet.
Depending on how such a model was implemented, Carlson could conceivably make more money as an independent creator than he did as Fox News’ biggest star.
The entrance of someone of Carlson’s calibre into the realm of independent media, alongside internationally known journalists like Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi, both writing now for Substack, would signal a transformation in an industry that has for many decades been dominated by large media corporations.
