Maddow Narrowly Edges Hannity To Win Ratings Battle Tuesday Night

By a razor-thin margin, MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show was the number one program on cable news Tuesday, pulling ahead of Fox News’ Hannity by a whisker. Meanwhile, Fox News ended up leading across the board in total day and primetime.

During the 9 PM hour, Maddow averaged 2.943 million total viewers and 610,000 in the key 25-54 demographic to lead all of cable news in both metrics. Hannity, which also airs at 9 PM, finished second in total viewership (2.918 million) and the demo (592,000). Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle took the bronze in the demo (523,000) while Tucker Carlson Tonight was third in overall viewers (2.550 million).

For the primetime 8 PM to 11 PM time slot, Fox News captured 2.654 million total viewers and 540,000 in the demographic. MSNBC placed second in both metrics, pulling in a total audience of 2.309 million and 473,000 demo viewers. CNN averaged 831,000 overall viewers and 270,000 in the 25-54 metric.

The most-watched program on CNN Tuesday in total viewership was the 10 PM airing of CNN Tonight, which nabbed 896,000 viewers. The 8 PM broadcast of Anderson Cooper 360 led the way in the demo audience with 286,000.

Justin Baragona

Justin Baragona is the founder/publisher of Contemptor and a contributor to The Daily Beast. He was previously the Cable News Correspondent for Mediaite and prior to starting Contemptor, he worked on the editorial staff of PoliticusUSA. During that time, he had his work quoted by USA Today and BBC News, among others. Justin began his published career as a political writer for 411Mania. He resides in St. Louis, MO with his wife and pets.