MSNBC ratings plunge after Trump election victory — as more than half of primetime audience flees
MSNBC primetime viewership plunged 54% in the days after Donald Trump won the White House as the network’s audience tuned away from its left-leaning coverage, according to a report.
The Comcast-owned cable news channel — which drew a daily average of 1.1 million viewers throughout October – saw its audience shrink to a daily average of 736,000 on the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday after Election Day, according to Nielsen Media Research data .
That amounted to a 31% drop following Trump’s decisive victory, in which he swept the popular vote and all seven key swing states. Meanwhile, Fox News ratings surged a whopping 61% duri💙ng the samꩵe period, according to Nielsen data reported by Fox.
🌺MSNBC was hit hardest during the primetime hours bet🌺ween 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.
Viewership of its primetime shows — including “Alex Wagner Tonight,” “All In With Chris Hayes” and “The Last Word With Lawrence O’Donnell” — dropped 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, bestiꦡng CNN’s 5.1 million viewers, according to Niel꧋sen data.
Fox News came out on top on election night with 10🔴.3 million viewers between 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern time on Tuesday, according to data.
Sharon Waxman, a former correspondent for The New 🔥York Timesꦉ 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 whe🐠n Donald Trump won the election,” Waxman on Sunday. “Personally, I can’t bear to listen to another minute of wisdom from Joy Reid, my friend Lawrence O’Donnell or the admirable Rachel Maddow.”
“I’m not saying I’ll never watch or listen again. But – am I alone here? – my entire body recoils from listening to more claptrap from the same claptrapping apparatus,” Wa🦄xman wrote.
MSNBC’s primetime ratings in the days after the election have fallen 51% from its year-to-date totals. Fox News’ ratings rose 58% in the same period, according to Nielsen data.
The channel’s primetime audience of adults between the ages 🌸of 25 and 54 – a crucial demographic for advertisers – fell 57%, even worse than the total audience at that 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 smalle💙st audiences of the year on Friday.
Like MSNBC, CNN’s ratings also suffered in the days after the election — down 36% compared to average viewership in October, according to Nielsen data.
MSNBC remained the No. 2 most-watched cable news network — trailing only Fox News — in the days after election night, according to Nielsen.
Still, viewers fled MSNBC en masse after the results were cal🐭led in Trumꦚp’s favor.
MSNBC viewers have abandoned the network in the past after its anchors wer📖e proven wrong.
In 2019, Maddow’s audience sank 19% after the Justic🃏e Department announced a special counsel investigation found no evi🅷dence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in 2016.
Previously, Maddow’s coverage of special counsel Robert 🧸Mueller’s in🔯vestigation into the claims earned her the No. 1 spot in cable news.
MSNBC’s post-election viewership slump falls in line with the network’s declines after previous election cycles, a TV network insider told The Post.
The cable news chann🐽el saw similar declines after the 2016 election, but then went on to have its four most-watched years yet betwee🀅n 2017 and 2020, the insider said.
