MSNBC’s Ed Schultz Beats CNN’s Anderson Cooper For Second Place At 10 P.M.

Cable news ratings, March 31, 2011:

•A race that has largely been shaping up as a fight for first place between CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Fox’s Greta Van Susteren split Thursday night, with Van Susteren bringing home a comfortable first place finish, and MSNBC’s Ed Schultz jumping into second place. Schultz finished with 222,000 viewers 25-54, ahead of Cooper’s 201,000. Van Susteren was far out front with 357,000.

•At 8 p.m., HLN’s Nancy Grace edged out MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell for second place behind Fox’s Bill O’Reilly among viewers 25-54. Grace (185,000) just beat O’Donnell (181,000), with CNN’s In the Arena trailing in fourth place (165,000) and O’Reilly far away with 662,000.

Here’s the full scoreboard:

TV NEWS RATINGS: 25-54 DEMOGRAPHIC (L +SD)
5 pm	Beck 495	Blitzer 143	Matthews 164	Showbiz 63
6 pm	Baier 471	Blitzer 198	Live 156	Prime 116
7 pm	Shep 385	King, USA 226	Matthews 142	Issues 113
8 pm	O’Reilly 662	InTheArena 165	O’Donnell 181	Grace 185
9 pm	Hannity 482	Morgan 183	Maddow 278	Missing 82
10 pm	Van Susteren 357	Cooper 201	Schultz 222	Behar 100
11 pm	O’Reilly 489	Cooper 235	Special 163	Showbiz 95
TOTAL DAY	350	162	131	112
PRIME TIME	500	183	227	120
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.

TV NEWS RATINGS: TOTAL VIEWERS (L +SD)
5 pm	Beck 2101	Blitzer 608	Matthews 549	Showbiz 137
6 pm	Baier 2176	Blitzer 601	Live 514	Prime 232
7 pm	Shep 1940	King, USA 631	Matthews 521	Issues 271
8 pm	O’Reilly 3328	InTheArena 504	O’Donnell 816	Grace 502
9 pm	Hannity 2158	Morgan 660	Maddow 1044	Missing 272
10 pm	Van Susteren 1689	Cooper 696	Schultz 821	Behar 277
11 pm	O’Reilly 1445	Cooper 578	Special 396	Showbiz 204
TOTAL DAY	1496	511	460	247
PRIME TIME	2401	620	894	344
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!