MSNBC’s Joy Reid Experiences Growth In Viewership From Previous Saturday

A week after this site highlighted that AM Joy’s ratings appeared to be in a short-term decline in the wake of host Joy Reid’s blog hacking controversy, this past Saturday’s numbers show that Reid’s show experienced growth across the board compared to the previous weekend.

According to Nielsen, AM Joy averaged 1.052 million and 190,000 in the key 25-54 demographic during the 10 AM hour, finishing second among major cable networks in both metrics. In the 11 AM time slot, the MSNBC program pulled in a total viewership of 1.06 million and 217,000 in the demo, again finishing second in both areas.

In comparison, the previous Saturday Reid’s show drew 957,000 total viewers and 171,000 in the demographic during the 10 AM slot, placing third in the demo and second in total audience. At 11 AM, AM Joy attracted 965,000 viewers overall and a 25-54 audience of 150,000, placing third in the demo during that hour.

This past Saturday’s numbers are very close to the Saturday in which she delivered a monologue addressing homophobic posts unearthed from her old blog that she had claimed were the result of hacking.

From our article last week:

“Comparatively, the previous Saturday’s broadcast — the one in which she delivered her apology — nabbed 229,000 in the demographic and a total audience of 1.03 million during the 10 AM time slot, finishing second in both areas. In the 11 AM hour, Reid’s program placed second in both the demo (230,000) and total viewership (1.077 million).”

This past Saturday’s ratings are below the Saturday before Reid was embroiled in the bizarre saga over her old blog and her insistence that she didn’t write the insensitive posts. During that Saturday, AM Joy averaged 263,000 in the demo and 1.28 million total viewers in the 10 AM hour, finishing second in both metrics. The 11 AM hour saw her finishing second with 1.24 million viewers overall and barely placing third in the demo (245,000).

As we wrote last week, it was too early to say if viewers were turning away from her program due to the controversy, as the sample size was too small and one always has to take into account what the news cycle is offering in a particular weekend. With this past weekend, we notice that the ratings are higher across the board than the previous weekend.

AM Joy didn’t air on Sunday as MSNBC broadcast Premier League soccer.

It will be interesting to see what the next few weeks offer. At the same time, Reid’s ratings need to be taken in comparison with the cable news landscape as a whole, and not just compared week to week.