CNN’s In The Arena Shows Ratings Strength Against MSNBC’s Last Word

Cable news ratings, June 28, 2011:

•On a night when the fight for first place went to HLN, winning most of prime time over Fox News, an interesting contest shaped up in the race for third place. MSNBC’s The Last Word, the Lawrence O’Donnell show that launched early this year in the aftermath of Keith Olbermann‘s sudden departure, was just 5,000 viewers 25-54 ahead of CNN’s In the Arena, the Eliot Spitzer show averaged 170,000 viewers 25-54, compared to Word‘s 175,000.

•Who had the second-highest-rated show in cable news after Fox’s Bill O’Reilly Tuesday night? It wasn’t Sean Hannity and it wasn’t Nancy Grace, but rather the honor went to HLN’s Vinnie Politan, whose Casey Anthony coverage on Special Report averaged 549,000 viewers 25-54.

Here’s the full scoreboard:

TV NEWS RATINGS: 25-54 DEMOGRAPHIC (L +SD)
5 pm	Beck 385	Blitzer 185	Matthews 163	Special 549
6 pm	Baier 376	Blitzer 188	Live 152	Prime 481
7 pm	Shep 394	King, USA 188	Matthews 151	Issues 498
8 pm	O’Reilly 597	InTheArena 170	O’Donnell 175	Grace 480
9 pm	Hannity 420	Morgan 159	Maddow 259	DrDrew 461
10 pm	Van Susteren 348	Cooper 300	Schultz 268	Grace 388
11 pm	O’Reilly 281	Cooper 223	O’Donnell 137	Showbiz 172
TOTAL DAY	274	135	125	286
PRIME TIME	457	210	234	439
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.

TV NEWS RATINGS: TOTAL VIEWERS (L +SD)
5 pm	Beck 1649	Blitzer 681	Matthews 677	Special 1974
6 pm	Baier 1968	Blitzer 565	Live 579	Prime 1517
7 pm	Shep 1659	King, USA 444	Matthews 663	Issues 1588
8 pm	O’Reilly 2530	InTheArena 545	O’Donnell 729	Grace 1703
9 pm	Hannity 1860	Morgan 515	Maddow 945	DrDrew 1489
10 pm	Van Susteren 1428	Cooper 694	Schultz 765	Grace 1047
11 pm	O’Reilly 866	Cooper 538	O’Donnell 465	Showbiz 535
TOTAL DAY	1028	387	420	976
PRIME TIME	1949	585	814	1401
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data

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