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It was two nights to remember for MSNBC, which beat cable news networks’ 800-pound gorilla Fox News Channel among adults 25-54 in primetime on Monday and Tuesday. The surge, fueled by coverage of the secret Mitt Romney tape, peaked on Tuesday, when MSNBC topped Fox News 575,000-526,000 in 25-54 primetime viewers. MSNBC claimed the top program in the demo for the night, Rachel Maddow, which drew a massive 703,000 25-54 viewers, topping perennial victor Bill O’Reilly (682,000), who had Jon Stewart as a guest that night. By Wednesday, the standings went back to they way they have been for years, with Fox News besting MSNBC in the demo (578,000-500,000) and O’Reilly back at No. 1. (In total viewers, Fox News has been consistently the top finisher.)
On the heels of winning the ratings race on Night 1 of the Democratic National Convention, the two-night winning streak this week is sure to give MSNBC a boost of confidence. It showcased the network’s winning combo of Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell. The media focus has been largely on Maddow because of her virtually unprecedented nightly win Tuesday with a ratings high for 2012. But O’Donnell has had a great week too. Boosted by the big lead-in from Maddow, O’Donnell on Tuesday posted all-time highs in total viewers (1.74 million) and all key demos, including 24-54 (535,000).
What’s more, after finishing No. 2 in 25-54 on Tuesday behind Maddow and O’Reilly, O’Donnell actually carried the flag for MSNBC on Wednesday, finishing as the network’s top program (531,000 in 25-54) behind Fox News’ Sean Hannity (643,000) and O’Reilly (633,000) and ahead of Maddow (521,000). O’Donnell was down only 4,000 viewers (0.7%) from Tuesday, despite his lead-in, Maddow, dropping 26%. It was O’Donnell’s second-highest 25-54 viewership ever only behind the Tuesday telecast. And he beat his biggest competitor at 10 PM, Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, every night Monday through Wednesday, news that raises concern for the veteran Fox News anchor.
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Lawrence O’Donnell is the best. He’s been my only Must-See TV this whole summer, though I enjoy Rachel Maddow too.
I hope someone posts O’Donnell’s “Rewrite” piece from Wednesday about the criticism of Eric Holder at the Romney Fundraiser in Boca. He calls the criticism “being Attorney General While Black” and denounces this particular attendee in the most fantastic way.
Love it when the good guys are winning…
Nice comment. Now here comes the hogwash backlash. Get ready.
I’ll wait for your report that the ratings went back to normal last night, with O’Reilly almost doubling Maddow’s audience, and beating her in that 25-54 demo by more than 100,000 viewers. But yay, let’s celebrate two days!
Let us liberals have a couple of days of joy…
You know, the sad thing is, I could actually BELIEVE you’re the real O’Reilly, posting on every internet comment thread he can just to brag about his ratings.
Who wants to watch the news all day? There’s only so much to report and you can get the top stories by reading articles online. 24-hour news networks know this and fill the rest of the time with tabloid-level political pandering.
The only time I flip to a 24-hour news network is when a big story hits, and I would imagine that most Americans are the same way. Good news for MSNBC that when there is real news to report, more people turn to them than turn to Fox News.
I have yet to get any ‘real news’ from MSNBC. Everytime I tune in they are left wing politicing. Reports that are so blatantly biased can hardly be called news. I do understand it’s all about ratings and this is what their regular viewers thrive on but some of us would just like to hear straight new: who, what, when, where. I like FOX because they are fair as they 90% of the time they have a liberal appearing along with the hosts.
To each his own but straight news, written, tv, internet would be nice if it could be found and the public would be given the credit that they have the intelligence to make up their own minds.
You like FOX, but then claim MSNBC to be “left wing politicking”? The “liberals” that appear on FOX are essentially tokens, just there to give the appearance of being “fair and balanced” (an ironic marketing tool). Some of MSNBC’s opinion programming can be seen as “in the tank” for certain politicians, but overall, the network is not as devoted to being a non-stop informercial for the Republican party like FOX News is. MSNBC tends to deal more in factual than in talking points, and when they do have “conservatives” on the show, they will allow them to express their POV without talking over them (until a lie comes out).
If you’re looking for annoyingly “balanced” news, watch CNN. If you’re looking for real news, you might want to steer clear of cable news editorial programming and watch PBS.
But seeing that you already dropped the “liberal” bomb, it’s pretty much safe to assume you believe that all media except FOX has a “liberal bias”. The “liberal bias” with regards to the mainstream media is a lie. Else we would have had NO Iraq, Afghanistan would have been closed up a million years ago, and the bankers and Wall Street crooks who blew up the economy would have gone to jail.
There is NOTHING about Fox (NOT) News that is the least bit fair and/or balanced.
MSNBC, like NBC, has little going for it, so every little victory – again, no matter how insignificant, is HUGE to them. Sad, really.
The article covers that at the end of the first paragraph. Did you actually bother to read it before whining?
Who cares about any of this. Pundit journalism, partisan slanting of the news in search of ratings in service of advertising rates in order to create wealth to keep shareholders happy has served to undo the decency in our society, the civility in our discourse and the well being of our Republic. We are worse for this phenomenon and I disdain them all.
Far left or far right, they’re both far away from normal!
LOL…Two nights is far from success…they are so far near the bottom that I don’t blame the left trying to herald any small success. Angry and snarky, I mean Lawrence O’Donnell and Rachel Maddow are pathetic. There really isn’t any other way to accurately describe both of them. You guys have been doing it for four years of Obama. By the way, thank you Univision for asking the president the tough questions ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CNN and CBS refuse to ask. Bravo! It was obvious the emperor has no clothes and it took a foreign language network to reveal it to us!
Speaking of tough questions, when is the last time you heard Mitt Romney asked a really tough question, especially by Fox… so called news. And your other comments are just as biased, because if you actually watched anything but Fox you would know that Maddow’s facts are researched, and are actually facts not some GOP fantasy talking points.
I enjoy Maddow thoroughly. I’m also a big fan of Melissa Harris Perry. These women are really raising the journalism bar.
I watch O’Reilly as well. I think it’s important to see all sides or at least be knowledgeable about both sides.
Maddow is consistently ahead of the story. She was one of the first to report on Citizens United, Super Pacs and the 501(c)(4)force field…
I wish more people would tune in. She’s a gem!
I love MSNBC, and Rachel Maddow is the best. She’s not afraid to look at any issues, and her intelligence and sense of humor provide a clear and entertaining report on what is affecting America. I’ll be watching her long after the election.
Some cable companies have made it difficult, if not impossible to get MSNBC. Either they don’t carry it at all or you have to pay extra. So I’ve often wondered what the numbers would be like if we could really compare apples to apples.
Yes I have found that to be true as well