But while the four most highly-rated shows still reach a relatively large audience — a combined average of about 9.3 million per week over the past year — there’s not nearly as much clamoring. Producers of the programs acknowledge that they often struggle to book the people who were once regulars in the greenroom on Sunday.

The programs’ shifting fortunes tell a tale about the changing media landscape, and about politics, too.

Political leaders now have multiple opportunities to deliver their message — cable-news live hits, podcasts, talk radio, social media — and they don’t have to wait until Sunday. …

There are friendlier forums for a politician to deliver a message, with sympathetic moderators and like-minded viewers, he said. That leaves little incentive for a newsmaker to face probing questions from tough, seasoned interviewers.

And the message doesn’t travel as far as it once did. Although the Big Four programs increased their audiences during the first two years of the Trump administration, the trend has been downward since then. The four broadcasts collectively lost about 16 percent of their viewers during 2021-22 compared with four years earlier, according to Nielsen figures.

The number of younger viewers — the 25-54 age group valued highly by advertisers — has dropped by one-third, weakening the shows’ financial viability.

(via Lucianne)