CNN Scores A Minor Victory: Situation Room Beats The Ed Show On MSNBC

Cable news ratings, December 29, 2010:

•It’s only a race for second place, but for a network desperate for something to feel good about, Wednesday evening delivered: CNN’s Situation Room edged out MSNBC’s The Ed Show among viewers 25-54. Both shows had holiday week fill-in hosts, and it was a photo finish: 146,000 viewers to 145,000–far behind timeslot winner Special Report on Fox, with 321,000. (Ed Show did beat Sit Room among total viewers)

•Among total viewers, only one non-Fox News show between five and ten p.m. came anywhere near breaking one million viewers, and that was Hardball with Chris Matthews. The 7 p.m. airing attracted 783,000 total viewers, more than Countdown or Rachel Maddow. Over at Fox, every show between five and ten had more than a million total viewers, from Glenn Beck, with 1,217,000 to the more than 2 million viewers who watched The O’Reilly Factor.

Here’s the full scoreboard:

TV NEWS RATINGS: 25-54 DEMOGRAPHIC (L +SD)
5 pm	Beck 227	Blitzer 146	Matthews 134	Showbiz 57
6 pm	Baier 321	Blitzer 146	Ed Show 145	Prime 45
7 pm	Shep 331	King, USA 125	Matthews 214	Issues 90
8 pm	O’Reilly 539	ParkerSpitzer 88	Olbermann 210	Grace 163
9 pm	Hannity 418	King 72	Maddow 216	Behar 124
10 pm	Van Susteren 346	Cooper 107	Special 137	Grace 96
11 pm	O’Reilly 295	Cooper 86	Special 212	Showbiz 82
TOTAL DAY	280	118	143	106
PRIME TIME	434	89	187	127
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.

TV NEWS RATINGS: TOTAL VIEWERS (L +SD)
5 pm	Beck 1217	Blitzer 469	Matthews 596	Showbiz 153
6 pm	Baier 1764	Blitzer 464	Ed Show 628	Prime 150
7 pm	Shep 1385	King, USA 328	Matthews 783	Issues 289
8 pm	O’Reilly 2117	ParkerSpitzer 400	Olbermann 741	Grace 605
9 pm	Hannity 1521	King 375	Maddow 756	Behar 397
10 pm	Van Susteren 1232	Cooper 548	Special 280	Grace 229
11 pm	O’Reilly 905	Cooper 330	Special 405	Showbiz 174
TOTAL DAY	995	308	386	260
PRIME TIME	1040	329	636	378
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data