MSNBC once again beat CNN in the ratings game, but for all the wrong reasons.
New Nielsen ratings show the liberal network has lost more than half of its primetime audience since President-elect Donald Trump’s victory last week, a sea change that signals its viewers are discouraged and tired of the spin. Fox News reported that MSNBC saw a 54% ratings drop after averaging 1.1 million primetime viewers for most of October. That number stood at 736,000 on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week. The change comes as Fox News’s viewership climbed 61% in the same three-day period, a “Trump bump” that has executives elated.
On the year, MSNBC’s viewership is down 26%, which is already bad enough, but things get worse when looking underneath the hood. During the 8-11 p.m. primetime slots, MSNBC averaged 1.8 million viewers throughout October with shows like “Alex Wagner Tonight,” “All in with Chris Hayes” and “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.” On average, those longtime hosts now see just over 800,000 nightly viewers. Its biggest drop occurred in the critical 18-54 demographic where 57% of viewers have fled the network for greener pastures.
By comparison, CNN experienced 44% fewer viewers on election night compared to 2020. That dip was enough for Chris Wallace, who announced on Tuesday his decision to abruptly walk away from contract discussions after three years with the network and declared his intent to jump into the world of podcasting.
A longtime TV executive who wished to remain anonymous predicted the beginning of a second Trump administration will be a difficult period for the ratings-challenged liberal network. “As its poor post-election night ratings show, MSNBC should not expect a ‘Trump Bump’ this time around. Even liberals are rejecting its condescending tone and the divisive rhetoric of its new standard-bearer, Joy Reid,” the executive said.
Sharon Waxman, editor of TheWrap and a reliable MSNBC viewer, wrote following Trump’s victory that the “media had got it wrong” and needs to tone down the noise. “If you’re like me, you haven’t turned on the news since last Tuesday when Donald Trump won the election. Personally, I can’t bear to listen to another minute of wisdom from Joy Reid, my friend Lawrence O’Donnell or the admirable Rachel Maddow,” Waxman wrote. “I can’t do it. I’m not saying I’ll never watch or listen again. But – am I alone here? – my entire body recoils from listening to more claptrap from the same claptrapping apparatus.”
The meltdown mode by MSNBC’s anchors and guests isn’t helping things. Claire McCaskill cried on air during Vice President Kamala Harris’s concession speech. Joy Reid blamed white women for Harris’s loss and said Black women “resigned from the save America coalition.” Al Sharpton and Joe Scarborough agreed that “racism and misogyny” by Black and Latino men helped spell Harris’s demise. A recent MSNBC chyron spelled it out — “FINDING HOPE IN A DARK TIME” — for easy understanding.
No Trump bump: MSNBC hemorrhaging viewers since Election Day, sheds more than half of primetime audience https://t.co/CGH80zKoqc
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 12, 2024
“While MSNBC thought they may have struck gold with the election night ratings, they should have realized by now that Americans only tuned in so they could see the meltdowns, not that they viewed it as consistently and intellectually stimulating television,” NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck told Fox News Digital.
