CNN’s 7 P.M. And 8 P.M. Hours Both Fall To Fourth Place; Both Timeslots Slated For Programming Changes

Cable news ratings, August 3, 2011:

•Only two of CNN’s evening hours hit fourth place Wednesday: John King, USA at 7 p.m. and In the Arena at 8. King averaged 126,000 viewers 25-54 (behind HLN’s Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell, who had 135,000) and Arena averaged 186,000 viewers 25-54, behind HLN’s Nancy Grace, who had 241,000.

It’s probably no surprise both of those hours are slated for makeovers in the next few weeks, with CNN’s Anderson Cooper taking over the 8 p.m. hour on Monday, and Erin Burnett launching a new show at 7 p.m. in September. (Arena goes away, and JK USA moves to 6 p.m.)

•Speaking of Cooper, the fight for 2nd place at 10 p.m. remains tight, with MSNBC’s Ed Schultz taking a narrow victory with 226,000 viewers 25-54, ahead of AC 360‘s 222,000. Fox’s Greta Van Susteren had a comfortable margin in first place, with 416,000.

Here’s the full scoreboard:

TV NEWS RATINGS: 25-54 DEMOGRAPHIC (L +SD)
5 pm	The5 324	Blitzer 129	Matthews 154	Special 86
6 pm	Baier 337	Blitzer 150	Live 162	Prime 125
7 pm	Shep 354	King, USA 126	Matthews 209	Issues 135
8 pm	O’Reilly 743	Arena 186	O’Donnell 236	Grace 241
9 pm	Hannity 463	Morgan 224	Maddow 305	DrDrew 209
10 pm	Van Susteren 416	Cooper 222	Schultz 226	Behar 145
11 pm	O’Reilly 364	Cooper 139	O’Donnell 137	Showbiz 151
TOTAL DAY	281	133	141	112
PRIME TIME	542	210	256	193
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.

TV NEWS RATINGS: TOTAL VIEWERS (L +SD)
5 pm	The5 1202	Blitzer 658	Matthews 678	Special 404
6 pm	Baier 1796	Blitzer 493	Live 654	Prime 447
7 pm	Shep 1546	King, USA 384	Matthews 792	Issues 550
8 pm	O’Reilly 3211	Arena 517	O’Donnell 863	Grace 929
9 pm	Hannity 2009	Morgan 702	Maddow 942	DrDrew 771
10 pm	Van Susteren 1738	Cooper 610	Schultz 762	Behar 660
11 pm	O’Reilly 1165	Cooper 324	O’Donnell 453	Showbiz 511
TOTAL DAY	1117	399	443	380
PRIME TIME	2321	609	857	773
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data