Among Viewers 25-54, Van Susteren Leads Cooper By Just 63,000 Viewers At 10 P.M.

Cable news ratings, May 12, 2011:

•With a high-profile trip to North Korea, Fox’s Greta Van Susteren reported live from the notoriously secretive country Thursday night, but On the Record still felt pressure from CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who closed within 63,000 viewers in the key 25-54 demographic. Van Susteren, with 384,000 viewers, stayed at number one for the hour, but Cooper was a close second (321,000), MSNBC’s Ed Schultz slipped further behind with 228,000. Among total viewers, Fox remains far ahead, with 1,652,000 viewers to CNN’s 939,000.

•At 9 p.m., another tight race pits Fox’s Sean Hannity against MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. Hannity, who has traditionally had one of the highest-rated shows in cable news, led Maddow by fewer than 100,000 viewers 25-54 Thursday. Hannity had an average of 448,000 viewers in the demo (still the second highest rated show on Fox News for the night), but Maddow was close behind with 357,000 (the highest-rated show on either MSNBC or CNN for the night).

Here’s the full scoreboard: