CNN’s Parker Spitzer Marks Big Ratings Gains–While Kathleen Parker Was Out Sick

Cable news ratings, February 3, 2011:

•It’s turning into a banner week for the oft-bashed CNN show Parker Spitzer. Again Thursday, Eliot Spitzer hosted the show and focused on breaking news from Egypt. (Kathleen Parker, the show’s co-host, has not been on the show all week–out sick, say CNN execs) Fast-paced and newsy, Parker Spitzer sans Parker beat MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell with 325,000 viewers 25-54 Thursday–93,000 more viewers than O’Donnell.

The week’s ratings wins mark Parker Spitzer‘s best ratings since the show’s launch last year–by a lot. The show’s highest average rating in 2010 was 159,000. In January the numbers bumped up to 174,000, though that was not enough to pull the show out of third place. This week, the average rating is over 274,000. That represents a 68 percent jump from last week, when Parker was on the set. Surely the news from Egypt is the largest factor in the jump, but not having one’s face on the air when your show is hitting its highest viewership; well, that could make you sick.

•MSNBC again found its entire revamped primetime lineup in third place Thursday, with Rachel Maddow falling behind CNN’s Piers Morgan among both viewers 25-54 and total viewers, and Ed Schultz a distant third at 10 p.m., 280,000 viewers 25-54 behind the timeslot winner, CNN’s Anderson Cooper. Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, who usually wins the timeslot, was only narrowly in second place, just 3,000 viewers 25-54 behind AC 360.

Here’s the full scoreboard:

TV NEWS RATINGS: 25-54 DEMOGRAPHIC (L +SD)
5 pm	Beck 570	Blitzer 236	Matthews 133	Showbiz 81
6 pm	Baier 466	Blitzer 277	Live 111	Prime 113
7 pm	Shep 631	King, USA 261	Matthews 151	Issues 165
8 pm	O’Reilly 677	ParkerSpitzer 325	O’Donnell 232	Grace 161
9 pm	Hannity 660	Morgan 392	Maddow 291	Missing 151
10 pm	Van Susteren 443	Cooper 446	Schultz 166	Behar 67
11 pm	O’Reilly 326	Cooper 374	O’Donnell 139	Showbiz 103
TOTAL DAY	380	270	127	122
PRIME TIME	594	388	230	122
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.

TV NEWS RATINGS: TOTAL VIEWERS (L +SD)
5 pm	Beck 2359	Blitzer 773	Matthews 672	Showbiz 191
6 pm	Baier 2384	Blitzer 817	Live 515	Prime 208
7 pm	Shep 2156	King, USA 762	Matthews 665	Issues 385
8 pm	O’Reilly 2811	ParkerSpitzer 951	O’Donnell 1085	Grace 522
9 pm	Hannity 2326	Morgan 1138	Maddow 1113	Missing 440
10 pm	Van Susteren 1763	Cooper 1181	Schultz 708	Behar 294
11 pm	O’Reilly 1045	Cooper 848	O’Donnell 479	Showbiz 265
TOTAL DAY	1500	737	518	285
PRIME TIME	2312	1090	969	409
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data