Rachel Maddow’s Time Slot Loses Nearly a Quarter of its Viewers After Top-Rated Host Goes on Hiatus

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MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, the network’s top-rated host, has been on hiatus for a little over a week now, and her absence has certainly been felt in the prime time ratings.

Maddow’s 9 p.m. show, The Rachel Maddow Show, had been guest hosted by Ali Velshi last week. During that same week, the show averaged 26% fewer total viewers and 24% fewer viewers in the key 25-54 age demographic than the week prior.

Between Feb. 7th and 11th, the show pulled in an average of 1.55 million total viewers and 177,000 viewers in the demo.

From Jan. 31 to Feb. 4th, the prior week, the show raked in an average of 2.09 million total viewers and 234,00 viewers in the demo.

Maddow regularly passes the 2 million viewer mark, except on Friday nights, which are often a bit lower.

Velshi’s 1.55 million average viewers for the week still led the network and handily beat out time slot rival CNN Tonight, which has been guest-hosted by a rotating cast of anchors. CNN Tonight pulled in only 539,000 average total viewers last week and 146,000 average viewers in the demo.

Sean Hannity’s 9 p.m. program won the time slot with 2.85 million average viewers for the week and 430,000 average viewers in the demo.

Maddow embarked on a temporary hiatus in which she is working on a variety of projects, including turning her podcast Bag Man into a movie. She is expected to be on air for key political events and return in a few weeks time.

MSNBC political analyst and recent rehire, Alex Wagner, hosted the show on Monday.