CNN’s John King’s Ratings On The Rise, Closing On Fox’s Shep Smith Wednesday

Cable news ratings, May 4, 2011:

•CNN’s John King, whose John King, USA has been the subject of repeated rumors suggesting its days might be numbered, has quietly gone on a ratings tear, with Wednesday night’s JK USA attracting 433,000 viewers 25-54, easily beating third-place Chris Matthews on MSNBC, and closing within 100,000 viewers of top-rated Shepard Smith on Fox News.

Among CNN shows, King was the highest-performing show in primetime after Anderson Cooper’s AC 360, which finished in first place in the demo at 10 p.m. with 702,000 viewers (nearly 200,000 ahead of Fox’s Greta Van Susteren).

•At MSNBC, each of the network’s major primetime shows landed in third place Wednesday, with Lawrence O’Donnell falling behind CNN’s In the Arena, Rachel Maddow lagging behind CNN’s Piers Morgan, and MSNBC’s Ed Schultz a distant third at 10 p.m.

Here’s the full scoreboard:

TV NEWS RATINGS: 25-54 DEMOGRAPHIC (L +SD)
5 pm	Beck 507	Blitzer 394	Matthews 181	Special 68
6 pm	Baier 415	Blitzer 388	Live 172	Prime 103
7 pm	Shep 530	King, USA 433	Matthews 271	Issues 82
8 pm	O’Reilly 732	InTheArena 351	O’Donnell 276	Grace 129
9 pm	Hannity 560	Morgan 358	Maddow 340	DrDrew 104
10 pm	Van Susteren 506	Cooper 702	Schultz 306	Behar 125
11 pm	O’Reilly 541	Cooper 451	O’Donnell 230	Showbiz 107
TOTAL DAY	396	347	190	107
PRIME TIME	608	471	307	117
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.

TV NEWS RATINGS: TOTAL VIEWERS (L +SD)
5 pm	Beck 2092	Blitzer 1101	Matthews 761	Showbiz 197
6 pm	Baier 1988	Blitzer 1257	Live 784	Prime 285
7 pm	Shep 1971	King, USA 1039	Matthews 976	Issues 260
8 pm	O’Reilly 3165	InTheArena 929	O’Donnell 1094	Grace 375
9 pm	Hannity 2284	Morgan 1152	Maddow 1172	DrDrew 239
10 pm	Van Susteren 2081	Cooper 1671	Schultz 954	Behar 315
11 pm	O’Reilly 1746	Cooper 1027	O’Donnell 517	Showbiz 280
TOTAL DAY	1553	923	635	253
PRIME TIME	2519	1251	1075	303
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data