Prime Time Cable News Recap: Special Coverage Boosts Burnett and Cooper as Carlson and Hannity Lag Behind

 


Below is a table charting the ratings of the prime time cable news shows on FOX News, CNN, MSNBC, and Newsmax TV from Monday, December 14 through Thursday, December 17. Keep in mind, the most important demographic is A25-54. 



Network

Day

A25-54

A18-49

A18-34

Total viewers

Erin Burnett OutFront

CNN

Monday

0.67

0.45

0.18

3.027

Anderson Cooper 360

CNN

Monday

0.59

0.40

0.17

2.654

Rachel Maddow Show

MSNBC

Monday

0.53

0.30

0.12

3.510

Anderson Cooper 360

CNN

Wednesday

0.51

0.32

0.15

2.415

Rachel Maddow Show

MSNBC

Tuesday

0.48

0.27

0.09

3.462

Cuomo Prime Time

CNN

Wednesday

0.47

0.30

0.14

2.194

Erin Burnett OutFront

CNN

Wednesday

0.46

0.31

0.15

2.180

Cuomo Prime Time

CNN

Monday

0.45

0.30

0.13

2.117

Tucker Carlson Tonight

FOX News

Monday

0.45

0.27

0.12

3.498

Rachel Maddow Show

MSNBC

Wednesday

0.45

0.26

0.10

3.593

Cuomo Prime Time

CNN

Tuesday

0.44

0.29

0.11

2.145

Anderson Cooper 360

CNN

Tuesday

0.43

0.29

0.13

2.164

CNN Tonight (10pm)

CNN

Wednesday

0.42

0.28

0.12

1.964

CNN Tonight (10pm)

CNN

Monday

0.41

0.28

0.11

1.651

Tucker Carlson Tonight

FOX News

Wednesday

0.41

0.26

0.16

3.414

Tucker Carlson Tonight

FOX News

Thursday

0.39

0.24

0.11

3.276

The ReidOut 

MSNBC

Monday

0.39

0.20

0.12

2.767

CNN Tonight (10pm)

CNN

Tuesday

0.38

0.24

0.10

1.690

Hannity

FOX News

Wednesday

0.37

0.23

0.15

3.103

Hannity

FOX News

Monday

0.36

0.20

0.09

2.877

The Ingraham  Angle

FOX News

Wednesday

0.35

0.21

0.10

2.392

Tucker Carlson Tonight

FOX News

Tuesday

0.35

0.20

0.10

3.223

All In with Chris Hayes

MSNBC

Monday

0.35

0.20

0.09

2.529

Rachel Maddow Show

MSNBC

Thursday

0.35

0.19

0.06

3.241

Hannity

FOX News

Tuesday

0.34

0.17

0.10

2.875

Cuomo Prime Time

CNN

Thursday

0.33

0.19

0.11

1.933

Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell

MSNBC

Monday

0.33

0.17

0.08

2.534

Hannity

FOX News

Thursday

0.32

0.18

0.10

2.732

CNN Tonight (10pm)

CNN

Thursday

0.31

0.20

0.10

1.511

Erin Burnett OutFront

CNN

Thursday

0.31

0.19

0.10

1.659

Erin Burnett OutFront

CNN

Tuesday

0.31

0.18

0.10

1.776

The Ingraham  Angle

FOX News

Monday

0.30

0.19

0.09

2.238

Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell

MSNBC

Wednesday

0.30

0.17

0.06

2.484

The Ingraham  Angle

FOX News

Tuesday

0.30

0.15

0.11

2.195

Anderson Cooper 360

CNN

Thursday

0.29

0.18

0.09

1.720

All In with Chris Hayes

MSNBC

Tuesday

0.29

0.17

0.05

2.238

All In with Chris Hayes

MSNBC

Wednesday

0.29

0.16

0.09

2.450

The ReidOut 

MSNBC

Tuesday

0.28

0.16

0.07

2.274

The ReidOut 

MSNBC

Wednesday

0.28

0.15

0.08

2.227

The Story with Martha MacCallum

FOX News

Monday

0.27

0.15

0.07

1.969

The Ingraham  Angle

FOX News

Thursday

0.24

0.14

0.05

2.057

Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell

MSNBC

Tuesday

0.15

2.624

The ReidOut 

MSNBC

Thursday

0.13

2.106

All In with Chris Hayes

MSNBC

Thursday

0.12

2.060

The Story with Martha MacCallum

FOX News

Wednesday

0.12

1.747

Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell

MSNBC

Thursday

0.11

2.275

The Story with Martha MacCallum

FOX News

Tuesday

0.11

1.650

The Story with Martha MacCallum

FOX News

Thursday

0.10

1.779

Greg Kelly Reports

Newsmax TV

Monday

0.10

0.889

Greg Kelly Reports

Newsmax TV

Tuesday

0.08

0.687

Greg Kelly Reports

Newsmax TV

Wednesday

0.07

0.711

Stinchfield

Newsmax TV

Tuesday

0.07

0.448

Stinchfield

Newsmax TV

Thursday

0.06

0.485

Greg Kelly Reports

Newsmax TV

Thursday

0.05

0.658

Stinchfield

Newsmax TV

Monday

Stinchfield

Newsmax TV

Wednesday


Below is a table with each individual show’s average A25-54 rating during this time period, as well as its rank in the demo this week, last week, and the change from last week. Shows with incomplete data were sorted taken into account how many days of the week they were reported. For example, while Last Word’s average reported rating was higher than All In’s, the latter had three airings with ratings reported compared to the former’s two. 



Network

A25-54

A25-54 Rank (This Week)

A25-54 Rank (Last Week)

Week To Week A25-54 Change

Anderson Cooper 360

CNN

0.46

1

4

0.03

Rachel Maddow Show

MSNBC

0.45

2

1

0.00

Erin Burnett OutFront

CNN

0.44

3

7

0.07

Cuomo Prime Time

CNN

0.42

4

2

-0.02

Tucker Carlson Tonight

FOX News

0.40

5

3

-0.04

CNN Tonight (10pm)

CNN

0.38

6

5

-0.05

Hannity

FOX News

0.35

7

6

-0.05

The Ingraham Angle

FOX News

0.30

8

8

-0.03

The ReidOut

MSNBC

< 0.32

9

10

All In With Chris Hayes

MSNBC

< 0.31

10

11

Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell

MSNBC

< 0.32

11

9

The Story with Martha McCallum

FOX News

< 0.27

12

12

Greg Kelly Reports

Newsmax TV

13

13

Stinchfield

Newsmax TV

14

14

With a boost from special coverage of the electoral college vote in the afternoon, Monday’s airings of Anderson Cooper 360 and Erin Burnett OutFront saw ratings high enough to boost them significantly for the week. In fact, they are the only two shows with A25-54 ratings up from the prior week. While Cuomo and especially Don Lemon’s CNN Tonight fell, CNN remains the highest-rated cable news channel in prime time. 


Despite promising results at the end of the prior week, Tucker Carlson Tonight and Hannity both had rough weeks. Hannity’s 0.35 average is far below Cuomo’s 0.42 and Maddow’s 0.45 in the same time slot, leaving the conservative show in last place in its time slot yet again. This is a stark contrast to the days (and months) before Joe Biden could claim the title of President-elect. With Erin Burnett shooting up to third place, Hannity finished behind every CNN show. 


Of the 14 shows reported in these tables, only eight of them were in the top 50 daily shows on cable on all four nights. That leaves disappointing results for the non-Maddow shows on MSNBC, as well as FOX News’ struggling The Story. Newsmax TV continues to lag behind the other three networks, though the ultra-conservative channel does not have as widespread as a reach across American households. 


What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments!


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