Cable News Ratings Thursday, December 9: Bret Baier’s Jussie Smollett Coverage Tops the Charts

Special Report with Bret Baier was the most-watched show on cable news on Thursday with 3.61 million total viewers. Baier, whose news show regularly lands in fourth or fifth place in the ratings, surged to the top spot as the verdict in the Jussie Smollett trial attracted viewers.
Baier’s time slot competition, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and MSNBC’s Ari Melber, only attracted 882,000 and 1.25 million viewers — respectively.
Brian Williams’ final broadcast of MSNBC’s The 11th Hour brought in 1.61 million total viewers, a solid boost for the late-night program. However, it wasn’t enough to eclipse Greg Gutfeld’s 11 p.m. satire show Gutfeld!, which brought in 1.86 million viewers. CNN’s Don Lemon came in third place at 11 p.m. with only 367,000 total viewers.
Here is a full breakdown of Thursday’s cable news ratings by show:
Total Viewers (thousands)
| ET | FNC | CNN | MSNBC | NEWSMAX | NEWSNATION |
| 6a | FOX AND FRIENDS: 1042 |
NEW DAY: 291 |
MORNING JOE: 743 |
DICK MORRIS DEMOCRACY: 10 |
MURDER, SHE WROTE: 32 |
| 7a | FOX AND FRIENDS: 1418 |
NEW DAY: 402 |
— | WAKE UP AMERICA: 107 |
MORNING IN AMERICA: 20 |
| 8a | FOX AND FRIENDS: 1791 |
NEW DAY: 453 |
— | — | — |
| 9a | AMERICAS NEWSROOM: 1673 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 509 |
STEPHANIE RUHLE REPORTS: 653 |
NATIONAL REPORT: 123 |
— |
| 10a | SR/B.DOLE CASKET ARRIVES: 1443 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 537 |
— | — | JAG: 103 |
| 11a | FAULKNER FOCUS, THE: 1398 |
AT THIS HOUR: 516 |
CRAIG MELVIN REPORTS: 535 |
— | JAG: 142 |
| 12p | OUTNUMBERED: 1685 |
INSIDE POLITICS: 563 |
ANDREA MITCHELL REPORTS: 568 |
JOHN BACHMAN NOW: 97 |
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT: 152 |
| 1p | AMERICA REPORTS: 1549 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 595 |
MTP DAILY: 546 |
— | IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT: 181 |
| 2p | AMERICA REPORTS: 1436 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 589 |
KATY TUR REPORTS: 714 |
AMERICAN AGENDA: 148 |
BLUE BLOODS: 211 |
| 3p | STORY, THE: 1475 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 588 |
HALLIE JACKSON REPORTS: 690 |
— | BLUE BLOODS: 256 |
| 4p | YOUR WORLD W/NEIL CAVUTO: 1535 |
LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER: 660 |
DEADLINE:WHITE HOUSE: 1258 |
ERIC BOLLING THE BALANCE: 183 |
BLUE BLOODS: 399 |
| 5p | FIVE, THE: 3591 |
LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER: 728 |
— | CHRIS SALCEDO SHOW, THE: 214 |
NEWSNATION: RUSH HOUR: 200 |
| 6p | SPECIAL RPT W/BRET BAIER: 3615 |
SITUATION ROOM: 882 |
BEAT W/ARI MELBER: 1256 |
SPICER & CO: 344 |
DONLON REPORT, THE: 85 |
| 7p | FOX NEWS PRIMETIME: 2739 |
ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT: 715 |
REIDOUT: 1118 |
GREG KELLY REPORTS: 475 |
ON BALANCE W/ VITTERT: 43 |
| 8p | TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT: 3380 |
ANDERSON COOPER 360: 744 |
ALL IN W/ CHRIS HAYES: 1195 |
STINCHFIELD: 224 |
DAN ABRAMS LIVE: 53 |
| 9p | HANNITY: 2848 |
CNN TONIGHT: 598 |
RACHEL MADDOW SHOW: 2051 |
CORTES & PELLEGRINO: 157 |
NEWSNATION PRIME: 34 |
| 10p | INGRAHAM ANGLE, THE: 2294 |
DON LEMON TONIGHT: 599 |
LAST WORD W/ L. ODONNELL: 1418 |
ROB SCHMITT TONIGHT: 141 |
BANFIELD: 26 |
| 11p | GUTFELD!: 1868 |
DON LEMON TONIGHT: 367 |
11TH HOUR W/B. WILLIAMS: 1616 |
GREG KELLY REPORTS: 95 |
ON BALANCE W/ VITTERT: 21 |
25-54 Demo (thousands)
| ET | FNC | CNN | MSNBC | NEWSMAX | NEWSNATION |
| 6a | FOX AND FRIENDS: 196 |
NEW DAY: 48 |
MORNING JOE: 80 |
DICK MORRIS DEMOCRACY: 0 |
MURDER, SHE WROTE: 17 |
| 7a | FOX AND FRIENDS: 251 |
NEW DAY: 70 |
— | WAKE UP AMERICA: 12 |
MORNING IN AMERICA: 6 |
| 8a | FOX AND FRIENDS: 293 |
NEW DAY: 93 |
— | — | — |
| 9a | AMERICAS NEWSROOM: 299 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 100 |
STEPHANIE RUHLE REPORTS: 60 |
NATIONAL REPORT: 23 |
— |
| 10a | SR/B.DOLE CASKET ARRIVES: 203 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 118 |
— | — | JAG: 7 |
| 11a | FAULKNER FOCUS, THE: 205 |
AT THIS HOUR: 96 |
CRAIG MELVIN REPORTS: 25 |
— | JAG: 6 |
| 12p | OUTNUMBERED: 261 |
INSIDE POLITICS: 94 |
ANDREA MITCHELL REPORTS: 47 |
JOHN BACHMAN NOW: 31 |
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT: 19 |
| 1p | AMERICA REPORTS: 276 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 113 |
MTP DAILY: 45 |
— | IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT: 13 |
| 2p | AMERICA REPORTS: 230 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 110 |
KATY TUR REPORTS: 69 |
AMERICAN AGENDA: 31 |
BLUE BLOODS: 29 |
| 3p | STORY, THE: 224 |
CNN NEWSROOM: 125 |
HALLIE JACKSON REPORTS: 62 |
— | BLUE BLOODS: 31 |
| 4p | YOUR WORLD W/NEIL CAVUTO: 216 |
LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER: 141 |
DEADLINE:WHITE HOUSE: 103 |
ERIC BOLLING THE BALANCE: 34 |
BLUE BLOODS: 44 |
| 5p | FIVE, THE: 496 |
LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER: 127 |
— | CHRIS SALCEDO SHOW, THE: 25 |
NEWSNATION: RUSH HOUR: 21 |
| 6p | SPECIAL RPT W/BRET BAIER: 483 |
SITUATION ROOM: 194 |
BEAT W/ARI MELBER: 146 |
SPICER & CO: 36 |
DONLON REPORT, THE: 15 |
| 7p | FOX NEWS PRIMETIME: 450 |
ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT: 181 |
REIDOUT: 170 |
GREG KELLY REPORTS: 61 |
ON BALANCE W/ VITTERT: 13 |
| 8p | TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT: 606 |
ANDERSON COOPER 360: 183 |
ALL IN W/ CHRIS HAYES: 146 |
STINCHFIELD: 49 |
DAN ABRAMS LIVE: 19 |
| 9p | HANNITY: 496 |
CNN TONIGHT: 139 |
RACHEL MADDOW SHOW: 254 |
CORTES & PELLEGRINO: 46 |
NEWSNATION PRIME: 14 |
| 10p | INGRAHAM ANGLE, THE: 347 |
DON LEMON TONIGHT: 117 |
LAST WORD W/ L. ODONNELL: 161 |
ROB SCHMITT TONIGHT: 29 |
BANFIELD: 5 |
| 11p | GUTFELD!: 335 |
DON LEMON TONIGHT: 62 |
11TH HOUR W/B. WILLIAMS: 182 |
GREG KELLY REPORTS: 7 |
ON BALANCE W/ VITTERT: 1 |
As for the three cable news networks overall, here are the total day averages in total viewers and the 25-54 category.
Total viewers:
CNN: 533,000
Fox: 1.85 million
MSNBC: 920,00
25-54 Demo:
CNN: 110,000
Fox News: 301,000
MSNBC: 100,000
Here are the prime time averages— encompassing shows which air from 8-11 p.m. — in total viewers and the 25-54 demo.
Total viewers:
CNN: 647,000
Fox News: 2.93 million
MSNBC: 1.53 million
25-54 Demo:
CNN: 146000
Fox News: 509,000
MSNBC: 176,000
For more ratings information and analysis go to ShowBuzz Daily.
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