MSNBC anchor Alex Wagner’s program declined in viewership compared to her predecessor, Rachel Maddow, whom she replaced on Tuesday-Friday programming.
Wagner garnered an estimated 2 million viewers Tuesday during her show’s premiere, a 27% decline from Maddow’s 2.75 million viewers on her Monday program, according to Deadline. Maddow, consistently MSNBC’s top-rated anchor, hosted the only non-Fox News program to reach the top-five cable news shows in July.
Among the 25-54 demographic, Maddow averaged 230,000 viewers in July, the outlet reported. On her premiere date the following day, Wagner averaged 183,000 viewers, trailing behind Fox News’ “Hannity” which topped the ratings with 404,000 views in the 25-54 bracket, while “CNN Tonight,” currently without a permanent host, averaged 176,000. “Hannity” additionally outpaced Wagner’s premiere in total viewership by garnering 3.1 million views.
The network’s Monday program, “The Rachel Maddow Show,” averaged 2.39 million viewers in July, the outlet reported. The previous Tuesday-Friday program, “MSNBC Primetime,” averaged 1.42 million. (RELATED: Rachel Maddow’s Ratings Continue To Plummet)
Maddow replacement on MSNBC Alex Wagner garnered just 183k viewers in the key demo for her debut show. Any independent creator with such a tiny audience would be broke and irrelevant pic.twitter.com/XL72dWlllR
— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) August 18, 2022
Wagner’s first show centered around the Wyoming Republican primary, in which Republican Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney lost her House seat to her Trump-endorsed opponent, Harriet Hageman, by 37 points, according to Deadline. Her debut featured Republican Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, The Atlantic staff writer Mark Leibovich and former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Joyce Vance.
MSNBC announced in June that Wagner was slated to replace Maddow on the Tuesday-Friday 9:00 p.m. slot. The network arranged for the official weekday replacement after Maddow signed a multi-year deal with NBCUniversal to host her show on Mondays in order to dedicate time to the film adaptation of her book.
Wagner previously hosted the show “NOW with Alex Wagner” on MSNBC between 2011 and 2015. The network cancelled the show as executives pivoted towards straight news during their daytime programming. She later returned to MSNBC as a political analyst and guest anchor.