MSNBC’s primetime viewership fell 54% in the days after Donald Trump won the White House as the network’s audience drifted away from its left-leaning coverage, according to a report.
According to Nielsen Media Research data reported by Fox, the Comcast-owned cable news channel — which drew an average of 1.1 million viewers during October — saw its audience shrink to a daily average of 736,000 on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. the Friday after Election Day. News.
That amounted to a 31% drop after Trump’s decisive victory, in which he swept the popular vote and all seven swing states. Meanwhile, Fox News ratings rose 61% during the same period, according to Nielsen data reported by Fox.
MSNBC was hit hardest during prime-time hours between 8:00 and 11:00 p.m.
Viewership for its flagship shows — including “Alex Wagner Tonight,” “All In With Chris Hayes” and “The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell” — fell 54% to 808,000, according to Nielsen data. That’s after the network averaged 1.8 million viewers in the coveted time slot throughout October.
The losses are a sharp turnaround from Election Day, when MSNBC’s election night coverage, anchored by Rachel Maddow, averaged 6 million viewers, beating CNN’s 5.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen data.
Fox News came out on top on election night with 10.3 million viewers from 8:00 PM to 11:00 PM ET on Tuesday, according to the data.
Sharon Waxman, a former correspondent for The New York Times and founder of Hollywood news site The Wrap, argued that the media needs “a total rethink” after the election.
“If you’re like me, you haven’t turned on the news since last Tuesday when Donald Trump won the election,” Waxman wrote for The Wrap on Sunday. “Personally, I can’t stand to hear another minute of wisdom from Joy Reid, my friend Lawrence O’Donnell, or the admirable Rachel Maddow.”
“I’m not saying I won’t watch or listen anymore. But – am I alone here? – My whole body recoils from hearing more clips from the same clapper,” Waxman wrote.
MSNBC’s primetime ratings in the days following the election are down 51% from its year-to-date total. Fox News ratings rose 58% in the same period, according to Nielsen data.
The channel’s core audience of adults between 25 and 54 — an important demographic for advertisers — fell 57%, even worse than the total audience at the time, the data said.
Many of the network’s most popular shows — including those hosted by network stars Alex Wagner, Andrea Mitchell, Chris Jansing, Nicolle Wallace, Jose Diaz-Balart, Joy Reid and Lawrence O’Donnell — saw their smallest audiences of of the year on Friday.
Like MSNBC, CNN’s ratings also suffered in the days following the election — down 36% from its October average, according to Nielsen data.
MSNBC remained the No. 2 most-watched cable news network — behind only Fox News — in the days following Election Night, according to Nielsen.
However, viewers left MSNBC in droves after the results were called in Trump’s favor.
MSNBC viewers have abandoned the network in the past after its anchors were proven wrong.
In 2019, Maddow’s audience dropped 19% after the Justice Department announced that a special counsel investigation found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016.
Previously, Maddow’s coverage of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the allegations earned her the No. 1 in cable news.
MSNBC’s post-election viewership decline falls in line with the network’s declines following previous election cycles, a network insider told The Post.
The cable news channel saw similar declines after the 2016 election, but then went on to have its four most-watched years yet between 2017 and 2020, the insider said.
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