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.