DC Trawler

MSNBC’s Ratings Are Terrific (If You Don’t Like MSNBC)

Font Size:

I’ve been enjoying MSNBC’s death spiral. The harder they lurch to the left, the more viewers they drive away. This causes them to panic, which makes them say even dumber things. This drives their ratings even lower, which deepens their panic… Down and down and down they go. It’s wonderful.

Come and share in the good news from Dominic Patten at Deadline:

With its 53rd consecutive quarter total audience win, Fox News Channel saw a 10% primetime rise among adults 25-54 in first-quarter 2015 over last year…

Contrast that to the fate of the NBCUniversal-owned MSNBC, which not only saw a 39% drop in the demo compared to Q1 2014 but its worst quarterly result in the category since Q2 2005…

With just 145,000 viewers among the 25-54s on average over the December 29, 2014 – March 29, 2015 period, the once-proud flagship The Rachel Maddow Show hit an all-time quarter low with the worst result since its September 8, 2008 launch. Not only is Maddow down 46% in the demo, but her 9 PM show is also down 19% in total viewers. Fellow primetime shows All In With Chris Hayes and Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell fell to their worst quarterly demo ratings since their respective 2013 and 2010 debuts. O’Donnell’s show also had its lowest total quarterly viewership results. And 7 PM’s Hardball With Chris Matthews had its lowest-rated quarter in the demo since 2Q 2005 with an average viewership of 126,000.

Perhaps an analogy would clarify what’s going on here:

Let’s say that every 10,000 cable news viewers equals one juicy red apple. We put all those apples into a big, festive basket. And every night, Fox News grabs the whole basket of apples, gives MSNBC a wedgie, and laughs at their tears of shame.

It makes me so happy, I want to dance: