Details, details.
A tough debut week for new MSNBC hosts Ronan Farrow and Joy Reid, as their respective shows at 1pmET and 2pmET lost ground as compared to last year.
Farrow’s program’s numbers were worse, drawing both the lowest total viewers and A25-54 demo viewers of all of MSNBC’s shows on both Wednesday (260,000/52,000) and Friday (201,000/54,000). His program’s best day was Thursday with 320,000 total viewers and 79,000 demo viewers.
Overall, “Ronan Farrow Daily” averaged 243,000 total viewers and 55,000 demo viewers for the week. Compared to the same week last year with “Andrea Mitchell Reports” at 1pmET, “Ronan Farrow Daily” is down -40% in total viewers and -42% in the demo.
Well, give the kid some time. It’s pretty tough to measure up to the charisma and star power of, um … Andrea Mitchell.
As Eliana Johnson at NRO notes:
Farrow was mentored since his mid-teens by the late diplomat Richard Holbrooke. After Holbrooke’s sudden death Farrow was appointed to a murky role as “special adviser” to Hillary Clinton during her tenure at the State Department. He certainly knows how to charm sexagenarian elites, but young people don’t seem to like him much. The New York Times has aptly labeled him “the youngest old guy in the room.” [MSNBC president Phil] Griffin had hoped the 26-year-old would help draw younger viewers to MSNBC, but after his first week on the air, Farrow’s ratings in the 18–49 demographic fell far below those from the comparable week a year ago…
This guy hasn’t set foot in the real world his whole life. Sounds like even fewer people than expected want to be lectured by a pampered child of privilege. Hope he’s braced for a crash landing. (Just kidding. If this doesn’t work out, he’ll just float along to the next “job.”)
Poor ratings or not, he’s still a feisty lil’ fella:
Oscar voters are “increasingly diverse” in the sense that they’re 94% Caucasian and 77% male at last count.
— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) March 3, 2014
Yeah! Speak truth to power!
Meanwhile:
If Frank really is @RonanFarrow‘s dad, he must be rolling over in his grave. “My son is a WHAT???” (journalist)
— Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) February 26, 2014