August Ratings: MSNBC is Down but Rachel Maddow is Way Up

[a kennedy]

Jason Easley

Even though MSNBC’s August 2009 ratings are not surprisingly down, compared to the August 2008 convention and election coverage, Rachel Maddow’s show has continued to grow. Maddow is up a whopping 61% among views 25-54, and 92% in total viewers over last year. Maddow’s show continues to become a force on MSNBC.

MSNBC as a network saw a 21% decrease in total viewers, and 31% drop in the 25-54 demo. In primetime MSNBC’s has seen a 14% decrease in total viewers and a small drop in the 25-54 demo.

This isn’t a surprise considering that August 2008 featured the Democratic convention, John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate, and the Republican convention. Younger Obama supporters were watching more cable news last year.

MSNBC primetime stomped all over CNN, and established itself as a solid number two behind the juggernaut that is Fox News. MSNBC was still the number one news network with people age 18-34. Countdown with Keith Olbermann suffered a 5% decrease in viewers, but put up huge numbers compared to the show hosted by Dan Abrams at 9 PM last year. Maddow’s show is the fastest growing cable news show in its timeslot.

According to an MSNBC press release, "The Rachel Maddow Show" out-rated CNN's "Larry King Live" among A25-54 in August (304,000 vs. 294,000). "TRMS" is the fastest growing cable news show at 9 p.m, up a huge 92 percent in total viewers versus August 2008 (996,000 vs. 519,000) and up 61 percent in A25-54 (304,000 vs. 188,000). "TRMS" also beat "Larry King" among younger viewers 18-34 in August by 29 percent (93,000 vs. 72,000).”

full article: http://www.politicususa.com/en/Maddow-Ratings

[alstephenson]

1. Great. Keep up the good work, Rachel.

[dbonds]

2. They still need a better morning lineup, starting with Morning Joe through Andria Mitchel's show.

[rucky]

3. Pat Buchanan may be single-handedly responsible for this.

[Frustratedlady]

4. It shows that many prefer serious reporting. Rachel has exposed some

pretty touchy subjects and she does it with facts.

I wish MSNBC would rebuild the Morning Show. I also wish Tweety would quit interrupting his guests and not try to show his intelligence when asking a question, and that Keith would cut down on the silliness. He can be a good and effective commentator when he gets serious.

JMVHO

[autorank]

5. She's stepping into it k*r

She's always had the right analysis. She's getting rid of some of the goofy stuff, minor but not
good for her new role as #1 voice of sanity on the airwaves.

I'm not surprised at KO dropping. He's excellent and breaking real news but his format is almost
painful at this point. He needs to calm down and also take a break. Huge contrats to him for
being very decent about RM's rise and helping her along. The guy is a real hero.

I'm liking Ed, what little I get to see. He's turned into a real shit kicker and he knows how to
to the folks who can be converted.

I don't get to watch much TV but, for news that informs, Jon Stewart and RM are it.

RM has great days ahead of her. She's hit her stride with the Ridge interview. That was so truthful.

All Ridge could say was thank you. Pretty damn amazing!

[CTyankee]

7. Ed's a little too old and folksy for the younger set who like Rachel.

But he does get in that "heartland" message to dispel the image that you can't be a liberal Dem and be from the heartland. That's why I like Ed...

[Qutzupalotl]

6. Maybe if they showed straight-up news instead of Lockup Raw all the time

they'd do a little better. I'm sure they do the crime stuff because it's cheap, but just someone reading the news could make them the go-to network for news that CNN was supposed to be. Fox does their news around the clock (except for their bloviating talking heads/friends etc.), so people just looking for news are gravitating to that -- and then getting sucked into the RW hype.

I love Keith, Rachel and Ed, but for those who don't want so much slant, something like 360 or Headline News without the sports/entertainment would be good.

News on cable news networks... what a concept!

[1776Forever]

9. I think you are on to something. FOX stays on all the time 24/7!

:headbang:

[Dawgs]

8. Do they even have an HD channel?

More and more people are avoiding stations that don't broadcast in HD. BTW, Fox News broadcasts in HD.

[drbtg1]

10. Yes they do have an HD channel

It doesn't really add much

[Joe Fields]

11. big k&r for rachel

[Winterblues]

12. Up 92% over last year. She has only been there one year yesterday.

I can understand why she is popular though. She shows utmost Respect for her guests whether she agrees politically with them or not. She is calm and rational and compared to most of the rest she is charming...

[madokie]

13. I like Rachel

She's exceptionally smart and pretty durn witty, a good combination if you ask me. I'm happy to read her numbers are up.

[Roon]

14. She made me laugh last night

paraphrasing here..."if you look at the screaming and yelling that people against HCR and the people who are calm and support it..what side would you rather be on?" LOL.