Maddow Most-Watched Program Across All Of Cable Friday, Places Second In Broadcast TV

With two of Fox News’ primetime hosts taking the night off Friday, MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show had little in the way of competition and easily topped cable news in both total viewers and the key 25-54 demographic. Meanwhile, Fox and MSNBC were neck-and-neck in primetime total viewership while CNN found its way in second place in the demo.

According to Nielsen, FNC averaged 2.247 million total viewers and 401,000 in the demo during the 8 PM to 11 PM primetime hours. MSNBC pulled in a total viewership of 2.202 million and 331,000 demo viewers. CNN attracted 347,000 in the demographic and 1.003 million viewers overall.

In total day, FNC nabbed 1.376 million total viewers and a demo audience of 254,000. MSNBC drew 1.185 million viewers overall and 200,000 in the 25-54 metric. CNN captured 697,000 total viewers and 210,000 in the demographic.

Besides leading cable news in total viewership (3.089 million), Maddow topped all of basic cable and placed second in broadcast TV for the day, falling just behind NBC’s Dateline Classic. TRMS also placed first in cable news in the key demo (479,000). A special broadcast of Fox’s Hannity, which had a guest host, finished second in both the demo (447,000) and total viewers (2.468 million).

FNC’s Tucker Carlson Tonight took third place in the demographic (426,000) and total audience (2.360 million). Fox’s The Five ended up in fourth in the demo (368,000) and total viewership (2.090 million).

The top-rated show on CNN was Anderson Cooper 360, which drew 365,000 in the key demo and 1.018 million viewers overall.