Prime Time Cable News Ratings August 10 - August 13: MSNBC Competitive with CNN, Tucker Carlson Tonight and Hannity Lead in All Key Demos


Below is a table for the A25-54, A18-49, and A18-34 for every show airing from 7pm to 11pm on CNN, FOX News, and MSNBC, as well as total viewers reported in millions. Columns with dashes means no ratings were reported due to the show finishing outside of that night's top 50 cable shows in A18-49. The main demographic for cable news shows is A25-54, and the A18-49 demo served as the tiebreaker when it came to chart placement. Leave a comment to let us know your take!


Network
Day
A25-54
A18-49
A18-34
Total viewers
Tucker Carlson Tonight
FOX News
Monday
0.70
0.42
0.23
4.543
Hannity
FOX News
Tuesday
0.69
0.44
0.26
4.575
Tucker Carlson Tonight
FOX News
Tuesday
0.66
0.39
0.21
4.101
Tucker Carlson Tonight
FOX News
Wednesday
0.64
0.40
0.14
4.143
Tucker Carlson Tonight
FOX News
Thursday
0.64
0.39
0.22
4.271
Hannity
FOX News
Monday
0.64
0.38
0.22
4.381
The Ingraham Angle
FOX News
Tuesday
0.61
0.37
0.20
3.601
Hannity
FOX News
Wednesday
0.60
0.36
0.15
3.902
Hannity
FOX News
Thursday
0.58
0.32
0.15
4.216
The Ingraham Angle
FOX News
Monday
0.56
0.36
0.19
3.605
Rachel Maddow Show
MSNBC
Wednesday
0.52
0.32
0.13
3.625
The Ingraham  Angle w/Raymond Arroyo
FOX News
Thursday
0.49
0.27
0.12
3.417
Rachel Maddow Show
MSNBC
Thursday
0.48
0.31
0.11
3.655
Rachel Maddow Show
MSNBC
Tuesday
0.47
0.28
0.12
3.378
The Story with Martha MacCallum
FOX News
Monday
0.45
0.27
0.14
2.776
The Ingraham Angle w/Mike Huckabee
FOX News
Wednesday
0.43
0.25
0.09
3.073
Anderson Cooper 360 (8pm)
CNN
Tuesday
0.39
0.27
0.16
1.810
CNN Tonight (10pm)
CNN
Tuesday
0.39
0.26
0.14
1.561
Erin Burnett OutFront
CNN
Monday
0.39
0.25
0.11
1.616
The Story with Martha MacCallum
FOX News
Tuesday
0.39
0.21
0.11
2.462
Anderson Cooper 360 (8pm)
CNN
Wednesday
0.38
0.24
0.12
1.699
Anderson Cooper 360 (9pm)
CNN
Monday
0.37
0.24
0.13
1.486
Anderson Cooper 360 (9pm)
CNN
Tuesday
0.37
0.24
0.10
1.629
Anderson Cooper 360 (8pm)
CNN
Monday
0.37
0.24
0.10
1.598
Rachel Maddow Show
MSNBC
Monday
0.37
0.24
0.09
3.067
Erin Burnett OutFront
CNN
Wednesday
0.36
0.24
0.13
1.707
All In with Chris Hayes
MSNBC
Tuesday
0.36
0.22
0.13
2.286
The Story with Martha MacCallum
FOX News
Wednesday
0.36
0.22
0.09
2.233
CNN Tonight
CNN
Monday
0.35
0.23
0.11
1.351
The ReidOut
MSNBC
Tuesday
0.35
0.22
0.13
2.213
Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
MSNBC
Thursday
0.35
0.22
0.12
2.706
Erin Burnett OutFront
CNN
Tuesday
0.34
0.24
0.12
1.560
All In with Chris Hayes
MSNBC
Thursday
0.33
0.21
0.33
2.337
The Story with Martha MacCallum
FOX News
Thursday
0.32
0.19
0.08
2.110
CNN Tonight (10pm)
CNN
Wednesday
0.32
0.18
0.10
1.325
Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
MSNBC
Wednesday
0.32
0.18
0.06
2.670
Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
MSNBC
Tuesday
0.32
0.18
0.05
2.584
Anderson Cooper 360 (9pm)
CNN
Wednesday
0.31
0.20
0.11
1.444
All In with Chris Hayes
MSNBC
Wednesday
0.31
0.20
0.09
2.229
CNN Tonight (10pm)
CNN
Thursday
0.31
0.20
0.09
1.400
Erin Burnett OutFront
CNN
Thursday
0.30
0.21
0.11
1.503
Anderson Cooper 360 (8pm)
CNN
Thursday
0.30
0.19
0.09
1.562
The ReidOut
MSNBC
Wednesday
0.28
0.17
0.09
2.109
Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
MSNBC
Monday
0.28
0.15
0.06
2.305
The ReidOut
MSNBC
Thursday
0.27
0.17
0.06
2.022
Anderson Cooper 360 (9pm)
CNN
Thursday
0.17
1.411
The ReidOut
MSNBC
Monday
0.14
1.856
All In with Chris Hayes
MSNBC
Monday
0.12
1.871


Monday's edition of Tucker Carlson Tonight on FOX News was the highest-rated prime time cable news show in the coveted A25-54 demographic, just barely out-rating Tuesday's Hannity in the demo. Tuesday's Hannity did, however, edge out Monday's Tucker Carlson Tonight in A18-49, A18-34, and Total Viewers. This can be attributed to an on-air interview with President Donald Trump.

Laura Ingraham was given Wednesday and Thursday night off, with Mike Huckabee and Raymond Arroyo filling in, respectively. Huckabee's shift was a big step down from The Ingraham Angle's ratings from the night before, lower-rated in all key demos than every edition of Carlson and Hannity, as well as three of four editions of MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show. Raymond Arroyo fared a bit better, albeit still not as well as Laura Ingraham did hosting her own show.

After giving Don Lemon last week off, CNN gave Chris Cuomo a break this week. Anderson Cooper 360 aired at both 8pm and 9pm to fill the void. Cooper saw mixed results at best for his second hour this week. Cooper pulled in a 0.37 A25-54 rating on both Monday and Tuesday, which tied for fifth on CNN this week. However, both Monday hours fared worse than Erin Burnett OutFront did in the less-desirable 7pm time slot, and Tuesday's 9pm hour fared worse than its CNN Tonight lead-out. Thursday's 9pm airing failed to place in cable's top 50 in the A18-49 demo, a rarity not just for Cooper, but for CNN (including their late afternoon/early evening shows) as a whole. Based on those ratings, a Chris Cuomo return looks welcome.

In last week's edition of this column, it was suggested that CNN should consider rebranding their typically low-rated town halls as an episode of Anderson Cooper 360, instead of marketing them as specials. After all, they are hosted by Cooper. While CNN ditched the Thursday at 8pm town hall this week, time slot results were still below average. The standard episode of Anderson Cooper 360 was out-rated by that night's CNN Tonight in A25-54, and Erin Burnett OutFront did better than Cooper in A18-49 and A18-34. Given Tuesday's edition of Anderson Cooper 360 gave CNN their highest ratings this week in all key demos, low ratings in some other hours should not worry fans of the long-running show. 

MSNBC was led, once again, by Rachel Maddow Show. On two nights, more viewers watched Maddow than every other show on cable news other than Tucker Carlson Tonight and Hannity. While Maddow is no match for those two FOX News powerhouses, it easily leads MSNBC, and three editions were higher-rated than anything that aired on CNN this week in A25-54 and A18-49. As usual, MSNBC fared worse on Monday night, with all four shows hitting lower ratings than they did later on in the week. Tuesday's edition of All In with Chris Hayes and Thursday's edition of Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell looked particularly strong, demonstrating an ability to be competitive with CNN. 

As for the 7pm hour, The Story was the highest-rated 7pm show across all three networks on three of four nights. It was tied for first place in its time slot on Wednesday, although CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront edged it out in A18-49 and A18-34. MSNBC's The ReidOut did not win its time slot any day this week, although it did finish in second place in its time slot on Tuesday. It finished outside of the top 50 cable shows in A18-49 on Monday, but it still out-rated its lead-out in that demo. 

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