Maddow Tops Cable News In Key Demo Tuesday Night, Lawrence O’Donnell Wins Time Slot

With Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on vacation this week, MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell easily led its 10 PM time slot across the board. Meanwhile, MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show topped cable news in the key 25-54 demographic but placed third overall in total viewership, losing to its 9 PM Fox News rival Hannity.

According to Nielsen, Fox News was the most-watched cable news network in primetime, drawing 2.590 million total viewers and 417,000 in the key demo. MSNBC took second in both metrics, averaging 2.141 million viewers overall and 355,000 in the demographic. CNN pulled in 231,000 demo viewers and a total audience of 872,000.

In the 9 AM to 5 PM daytime slot, Fox News nabbed a total viewership of 1.324 million and 196,000 in the demographic. CNN drew 127,000 demo viewers and 603,000 viewers overall. MSNBC captured 935,000 total viewers and 105,000 in the key demo.

Maddow took first place overall in the key demographic with 489,000 viewers while taking third place in total viewership (2.715 million). Hannity took the top spot in total viewers on Tuesday (2.939 million) while placing second in the demo (481,000).

Fox’s Tucker Carlson Tonight finished second in the day in total viewers (2.829 million) and third in the key demo (457,000). FNC’s The Five took fourth in total viewership (2.307 million) while The Last Word grabbed fourth place in the demo (358,000) and led its time slot in total audience (2.207 million).

The top-rated program on CNN was Cuomo Prime Time, which drew 961,000 viewers overall and 262,000 in the key demo.