MSNBC Dominates In Primetime Thursday Night, Maddow Number One In Cable

The Michael Cohen/Robert Mueller bombshell on made MSNBC’s primetime lineup the Place for Politics as the network led across the board during the 8 PM to 11 PM hours.

Meanwhile, The Rachel Maddow Show was the most-watched program in cable, beating a high-profile Thursday Night Football matchup on the NFL Network.

According to Nielsen, MSNBC drew 2.768 million total viewers and 487,000 in the key 25-54 demographic during primetime. Fox News followed with 386,000 demo viewers and 2.311 million viewers overall. CNN pulled in 1.266 million total viewers and 353,000 in the demo.

Maddow averaged a dominant 3.407 million viewers overall to lead all of cable while topping cable news with 633,000 in the key demo. MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell placed second overall in cable news in both the demo (481,000) and total viewership (2.746 million).

Fox’s Tucker Carlson Tonight placed third in total viewers (2.589 million), followed by FNC’s Hannity (2.504 million). Hannity, however, finished a distant seventh in the demo (385,000).

The top-rated program on CNN was Anderson Cooper 360, which drew 1.383 million viewers overall. Cuomo Prime Time led in the demo with 364,000.

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.