Tuesday Ratings: CNN’s Debate Gives Anderson Cooper A Boost

Nando Di FinoNov 23rd, 2011, 5:32 pm

The good news: CNN’s Tuesday night debate numbers gave the network a clear-cut win over Fox News in both total viewers and among viewers aged 25-54 in the 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. slots. Additionally, Anderson Cooper got a huge boost from the debate as his lead-in, attracting 405,000 demo viewers and toppling FNC’s Greta Van Susteren at 10:00.

The not-so-great news? CNN’s debate ranked just seventh overall among the 10 debates (11 if you count Bloomberg’s) so far in this election cycle. But it did help to create a…

Debate Fun Fact:
The best weeknight to have a debate, as far as demo ratings are concerned, is Wednesday, where the debates pull an average of 1.36 million viewers (The one CBS Saturday night debate attracted 1.52 million). Tuesdays come in second, with an average of 1.35 million, while Thursdays are third (1.327 million), and Mondays are last (1.025 million). Your move, Fridays and Sundays.

Other nuggets from Tuesday:

HLN had another forgettable night, with only two shows (Nancy Grace and Issues) pulling six digits in the demo.

Rachel Maddow again ruled the MSNBC schedule, but Lawrence O’Donnell leaned forward into second place on the network, with 209,000 in the demo.

The lowest-rated show on Tuesday night? Joy Behar‘s, which brought in just 53,000 demo viewers.Average Time Slot Rating:
Fox: 1.43
CNN: 1.86
MSNBC: 2.71
HLN: 4

Tuesday night’s full ratings:

TV NEWS RATINGS: 25-54 DEMOGRAPHIC (L +SD)

5 pm

The5

359

Blitzer

175

Matthews

128

Special

6 pm

Baier

383

King, USA

148

Sharpton

178

Prime

7 pm

Shep

434

Burnett

160

Matthews

176

Issues

107

8 pm

O’Reilly

489

Debate

967

Schultz

160

Grace

118

9 pm

Hannity

338

Debate

1,118

Maddow

246

Dr. Drew

10 pm

Van Susteren

365

Cooper

405

O’Donnell

209

Behar

11 pm

O’Reilly

379

Debate

336

Schultz

176

Showbiz

TOTAL DAY

272

222

128

PRIME TIME

400

829

205

Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.

TV NEWS RATINGS: TOTAL VIEWERS (L +SD)

5 pm	The5 1,512	Blitzer 648	Matthews 800	Special 196
6 pm	Baier 1,933	King, USA 479	Sharpton 771	Prime 269
7 pm	Shep 1,596	Burnett 592	Matthews 762	Issues 400
8 pm	O’Reilly 2,392	Debate 3,443	Schultz 772	Grace 455
9 pm	Hannity 1,332	Debate 3,764	Maddow 853	DrDrew 299
10 pm	Greta 1,298	Cooper 1,427	O’Donnell 723	Behar 166
11 pm	O’Reilly 1,227	Debate 823	Schultz 581	Showbiz 183
TOTAL DAY	1,088	734	463	216
PRIME TIME	1,678	2,876	783	300
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data