Some of you may get some pleasure from this report, but I don’t, and here’s why: If MSNBC’s ratings drop, the brass will kick more liberals off the air and try something new, a la CNN’s wobbly attempts. Money talks, ratings talk, low ratings whimper and whine:
[Lawrence O'Donnell's] show led into the State of the Union address, which should’ve helped…
But it didn’t.
Some 332,000 viewers in the prime 25-to-54-year-old demographic watched “Last Word” on Monday, less than Olbermann one week earlier. That number rose only slightly on SOTU night, to 359,000 viewers in the demo (compared with 260,000 the week before). And then Wednesday’s show drew just 219,000 viewers ages 25-54 compared with 248,000 for “Countdown” one week prior.
It gets worse. CNN’s “Parker Spitzer” came within 50,000 viewers of “Last Word” on Wednesday.
One week earlier, with Olbermann still on at 8 p.m, the gap was nearly 2-to-1.
Since “Last Word’s” premier, the ratings have declined steadily. It got a boost the first night, as expected, then down, down, down.
It gets worse. Much worse:
“Piers Morgan Tonight” beat Rachel Maddow four out of five nights last week in the key demographic — and that was with Olbermann as her lead-in.
Bill O’Reilly scored 3.24 million total viewers. 910,000 were in the targeted 25-54 demo. That number is nearly as many total viewers as MSNBC.
The Uh-Oh Fairy is hovering. Someone get the repellent. Please.
I didn’t abandon MSNBC when Keith left, because I value the few progressive voices we they still have on air. They’re not Keith, but they sure beat the alternative. But if Rachel Maddow goes, I go.
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