MSNBC Struggles to Attract Viewers as Multiple Shows Hit Multi-Year Lows
The first week of August was one to forget for left-wing network MSNBC, as many flagship programs experienced record or near-record low viewership.
Since former President Donald Trump left office in January, the establishment media spin machine that relied on him to keep viewers engaged has come crashing down.
CNN, for example, shed 68 percent of its audience between the start of the year and the end of June, Forbes reported. But CNN is not alone with regard to seeing viewers bail out in large numbers.
MSNBC is also circling the drain. Not even a week in which Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York faced calls to resign could draw people in.
While some programs on MSNBC experienced record lows in total viewership, others lost out on the coveted age 25 to 54 demographic in ways they had not managed to do in years, Fox News reported.
For example, Joy Reid’s show “The ReidOut” had its worst week ever, and averaged a mere 1.1 million viewers from Aug. 2 to Aug. 6.
Contributor Brian Williams also experienced his worst week ever since launching “The 11th Hour with Brian Williams” in 2016.
Williams’ show averaged only 129,000 viewers among the key viewer demographic.
Meanwhile, other programs were disappointed with regard to having success with the demo advertisers used to gauge the health of a program or network. MSNBC’s heavy hitters saw their viewership crater.
“Andrea Mitchell Reports,” “Meet the Press Daily” with Chuck Todd and “All in with Chris Hayes” all had their worst weeks in years with viewership.
Mitchell had her worst week since May 2017 by averaging 662,000 viewers, while Todd saw his lowest viewership since December 2016 — attracting a mere 642,000 viewers.
Hayes had his worst week since January of 2017, and averaged only 1.2 million viewers.
Fox reported MSNBC primetime sluggers Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell recorded their worst weeks since December of 2015.
“The Rachel Maddow Show” averaged 189,000 viewers in the demo while “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” averaged 133,000 viewers aged 25 to 54.
Maddow finished the week lagging behind 12 different shows on Fox News, which continues to dominate cable with host Tucker Carlson as the king of the hill.
The mornings last week also brought bad news to MSNBC, as “Morning Joe” failed to attract even 100,000 viewers in the demographic.
The show had not brought in such low numbers since October of 2015.
Forbes reported ratings are down across the board for all networks when compared to a year ago, but some networks are hemorrhaging more viewers than others.
“Compared to the same month one year ago, all of the cable news networks [in July] saw ratings declines — to be expected after a year that featured not just a presidential election cycle, but a global pandemic — but Fox News was down by the smallest margins in all categories: total viewers in total day and prime time, and viewers 25-54, the demographic group most valued by national advertisers,” Forbes reported.
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