Prime Time Cable News Ratings: Election Coverage Does Not Lead Chaotic Week + What Comes Next for The Story

 

MSNBC

Below is a chart featuring the A25-54, A18-49, A18-34 demo ratings and total viewership for prime time cable news shows on FOX News, CNN, MSNBC, and Newsmax TV from Monday, January 4 through Thursday, January 7. A discussion about the ratings follows. Let us know what you think by leaving a reaction and comment!


Network

Day

A25-54

A18-49

A18-34

Total viewers

Anderson Cooper 360

CNN

Wednesday

2.74

2.11

1.22

8.800

Cuomo Prime Time

CNN

Wednesday

2.71

2.14

1.25

8.725

Erin Burnett OutFront

CNN

Wednesday

2.53

1.94

1.09

8.167

CNN Tonight (10pm)

CNN

Wednesday

2.48

1.96

1.14

7.748

Rachel Maddow Show

MSNBC

Wednesday

1.74

1.19

0.67

7.733

Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell

MSNBC

Wednesday

1.54

1.09

0.61

6.757

Anderson Cooper 360

CNN

Thursday

1.51

1.04

0.48

5.766

Erin Burnett OutFront

CNN

Thursday

1.40

0.99

0.43

4.875

Cuomo Prime Time

CNN

Thursday

1.40

0.98

0.49

5.209

Tucker Carlson Tonight

FOX News

Wednesday

1.29

0.87

0.49

5.971

The Story with Martha MacCallum

FOX News

Wednesday

1.26

0.86

0.50

5.009

Election Night in America (10pm)

CNN

Wednesday

1.21

0.92

0.55

3.815

Election Night in America (9pm)

CNN

Wednesday

1.17

0.88

0.49

3.949

CNN Tonight (10pm)

CNN

Thursday

1.13

0.82

0.38

4.172

Election Night in America (8pm)

CNN

Wednesday

1.09

0.81

0.48

3.928

MSNBC Election Coverage (8pm)

MSNBC

Wednesday

0.95

0.68

0.40

4.655

Rachel Maddow Show

MSNBC

Thursday

0.93

0.64

0.33

5.398

Hannity

FOX News

Wednesday

0.91

0.58

0.31

4.515

Election Night in America (7pm)

CNN

Wednesday

0.87

0.64

0.37

3.279

The Ingraham  Angle

FOX News

Wednesday

0.76

0.47

0.27

4.424

The Ingraham  Angle

FOX News

Wednesday

0.75

0.45

0.24

3.630

Hannity

FOX News

Wednesday

0.74

0.47

0.32

4.371

Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell

MSNBC

Thursday

0.69

0.47

0.25

4.608

Tucker Carlson Tonight

FOX News

Wednesday

0.67

0.42

0.24

4.253

All In with Chris Hayes

MSNBC

Thursday

0.62

0.43

0.24

3.623

The ReidOut

MSNBC

Thursday

0.62

0.42

0.19

3.466

The ReidOut 

MSNBC

Wednesday

0.61

0.43

0.26

3.430

Cuomo Prime Time

CNN

Monday

0.58

0.37

0.21

2.846

Tucker Carlson Tonight

FOX News

Thursday

0.55

0.36

0.20

3.582

Hannity

FOX News

Monday

0.51

0.31

0.18

4.046

Rachel Maddow Show

MSNBC

Monday

0.51

0.31

0.11

3.962

CNN Tonight (10pm)

CNN

Monday

0.50

0.33

0.17

2.341

Anderson Cooper 360

CNN

Monday

0.50

0.33

0.16

2.596

The Ingraham  Angle

FOX News

Monday

0.48

0.31

0.23

3.163

Erin Burnett OutFront

CNN

Monday

0.47

0.30

0.16

2.360

Tucker Carlson Tonight

FOX News

Monday

0.44

0.24

0.09

3.743

The Story with Martha MacCallum

FOX News

Thursday

0.42

0.27

0.11

2.186

Hannity

FOX News

Thursday

0.41

0.26

0.13

3.000

The Story with Martha MacCallum

FOX News

Wednesday

0.40

0.26

0.14

2.782

Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell

MSNBC

Monday

0.35

0.22

0.09

3.120

All In with Chris Hayes

MSNBC

Monday

0.32

0.19

0.08

2.544

The ReidOut 

MSNBC

Monday

0.29

0.15

0.06

2.389

The Ingraham  Angle

FOX News

Thursday

0.21

2.315

Greg Kelly Reports

Newsmax TV

Wednesday

0.18

1.028

Stinchfield

Newsmax TV

Wednesday

0.13

0.771

The Story with Martha MacCallum

FOX News

Monday

0.12

1.727

President Trump Georgia Rally (9pm)

Newsmax TV

Monday

0.10

0.779

Rob Schmitt Tonight (9:30pm)

Newsmax TV

Wednesday

0.10

0.574

Georgia Runoff Special (7pm)

Newsmax TV

Wednesday

0.09

0.609

Greg Kelly Reports

Newsmax TV

Monday

0.07

0.712

Greg Kelly Reports

Newsmax TV

Thursday

0.07

0.700

Stinchfield

Newsmax TV

Monday

0.07

.—

0.585

Rob Schmitt Tonight (10pm)

Newsmax TV

Wednesday

0.07

0.494

Stinchfield

Newsmax TV

Thursday

0.06

0.466


Usually, election coverage tends to dominate their respective weeks. The same can be said for major events leading up to elections, such as debates. This week, however, was different. With the infamous riots taking place at the Capitol on Wednesday, viewers were inclined to check out coverage more so than they were for the runoff elections in Georgia. The Capitol riots took up so much of the news cycle that the Democrats becoming the majority party in the Senate wasn’t even the biggest news event of the day. 


At 8 pm on Wednesday, Congress picked up where they left off in the counting of electoral votes. While this is typically a formality, the related riots earlier in the day skyrocketed the ratings for the coverage. This was led by CNN, with MSNBC and FOX News a respective distant second and third place. Between the runoff elections and the official counting of the electoral votes, CNN has proven itself yet again to be the network most viewers turn to for event coverage. 


Newsmax TV also had some success with events this week. Their airing of President Trump’s rally in Georgia on Monday night pulled in the highest A18-49 rating for that time slot since ratings were first reported in late November. Election coverage on Wednesday boosted Greg Kelly Reports and Stinchfield, which in turn led to Rob Schmitt Tonight cracking the top 150 in A18-49 for cable for the first time ever.


What’s concerning for FOX News is that viewers have chosen MSNBC to be the #2 network for events this week. Not only are their programs doing relatively worse than they did pre-election, they are also lagging behind during events. Granted, neither of these events were kind to FOX News’ core audience, but that is a trend likely to continue at least until the 2022 midterm elections. 


FOX News is already making changes to their schedule. Starting Monday, January 18, The Story with Martha MacCallum will be moving to 3 pm. A new program, Fox News Prime Time, will take over the 7 pm time slot. A host for that show has not yet been named. 


The TV Ratings Guide actually speculated that The Story’s prime time days might be numbered, writing this in an article on December 7:



The Story’s exit from prime time should remind everyone that cable news ratings do indeed matter. 



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