10 P.M. Suddenly The Hottest Horserace In Cable News As CNN’s Anderson Cooper Becomes Ratings Threat

Cable news ratings, February 25, 2011:

•Friday nights are often poorly rated for hard news shows, but CNN’s Anderson Cooper had his second-best Friday night of February on the 25th, with 299,000 viewers. He still came in third, behind Fox’s Greta Van Susteren and MSNBC’s Friday night prison series, Lockup. (Cooper did beat Lockup among total viewers) But 299,000 in the demo is an important number, better than any other show on CNN Friday night, and better even than MSNBC’s replacement for Keith Olbermann at 8 p.m., Lawrence O’Donnell.

When ratings for February are released by the networks tomorrow, it’s clear Cooper will have plenty to feel good about, taking second place overall and showing real power in the race for first. On February 4, Cooper beat Fox’s Van Susteren, and he came within 7,000 viewers (25-54) of tying her show, On the Record, last Thursday. For the entire month–with outliers like MSNBC’s Lockup (which usually does extremely well) not included, Cooper will beat MSNBC’s Ed Schultz at 10, marking CNN’s first second place finish over MSNBC since last June.

MSNBC, which revamped its entire primetime lineup after Olbermann’s departure, has not surrendered at 10, where Schultz has been a strong competitor. Compared to a year ago, in fact, MSNBC’s ratings in the hour are up 41 percent among viewers 25-54. But Cooper’s up far more–83 percent. That figure will clearly have been affected by Cooper’s reporting from Egypt and his highly publicized run-in with punch-throwing goons. His numbers, however, have remained strong since his return (439,000 viewers 25-54 on Thursday). And just as Cooper delivers some of his strongest ratings in months, Van Susteren has had an off month, with year-to-year ratings for February dropping slightly.

For all the talk of Piers Morgan and Lawrence O’Donnell, this remains the race to watch.

•Also on Friday, the farewell of Kathleen Parker did not lead to significant tune in, with the final edition of Parker Spitzer coming in third among viewers 25-54, with 153,000. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell was second, with 275,000 and Fox’s Bill O’Reilly ruled the hour with 751,000.

Here’s the full scoreboard:

TV NEWS RATINGS: 25-54 DEMOGRAPHIC (L +SD)
5 pm	Beck 416	Blitzer 215	Matthews 195	Showbiz 60
6 pm	Baier 462	Blitzer 231	Live 168	Prime 78
7 pm	Shep 448	King, USA 215	Matthews 191	Issues 119
8 pm	O’Reilly 751	ParkerSpitzer 153	O’Donnell 275	Grace 131
9 pm	Hannity 470	Morgan 185	Maddow 377	Missing 75
10 pm	Van Susteren 321	Cooper 299	Lockup 358	Behar 99
11 pm	O’Reilly 379	Cooper 279	Lockup 336	Showbiz 86
TOTAL DAY	360	216	190	95
PRIME TIME	515	212	337	100
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.

TV NEWS RATINGS: TOTAL VIEWERS (L +SD)
5 pm	Beck 1862	Blitzer 751	Matthews 735	Showbiz 60
6 pm	Baier 2108	Blitzer 713	Live 630	Prime 78
7 pm	Shep 1869	King, USA 685	Matthews 658	Issues 119
8 pm	O’Reilly 3090	ParkerSpitzer 519	O’Donnell 1034	Grace 131
9 pm	Hannity 1808	Morgan 678	Maddow 1207	Missing 75
10 pm	Van Susteren 1402	Cooper 927	Lockup 634	Behar 99
11 pm	O’Reilly 1416	Cooper 669	Lockup 653	Showbiz 86
TOTAL DAY	1426	624	561	241
PRIME TIME	2106	708	958	350
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data