MSNBC Gets Trucked in Ratings Demo For August Despite Convention Bump, Fox News Draws Big Prime Time Audience

Fox News and CNN both drew big ratings for the month of August, with the former once again dominating cable news and the latter besting MSNBC in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 age demographic.

MSNBC placing third in the demo comes despite the network drawing the most viewers for the Democratic Convention.

Fox News drew 314,000 in the demo for total day, which CNN placed second with 255,000 and MSNBC placing third with 193,000.

MSNBC also came in behind both networks for prime time ratings in the demo, with Fox News averaging a whopping 638,000, CNN drawing 454,000, and MSNBC placing third at 357,000.

There were some positives for MSNBC in August however, as the network beat CNN — but remained far behind Fox — in average viewers overall for both total day and prime time. Fox News drew 1,783,000 in total day, to MSNBC’s 1,248,000 and CNN’s 1,013,000. In prime, Fox drew 3,637,000 to MSNBC’s 2,194,000 and CNN’s 1,685,000.

All networks increased in viewership from August 2019. CNN experienced historically high ratings for August — the most viewed August for forty years, according to a press release.

Fox News, meanwhile, drew their highest rated August ever in prime time, placing first in all of television — ahead of not just MSNBC and CNN, but also CBS, NBC and ABC.

MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show at 9 p.m. remains one of the top cable news shows, with 3,116,000 viewers and 470,000 in the demo, though she placed behind four highly rated Fox News programs: Hannity at 9 p.m. (4,694,000 total, 850,000 in the demo), Tucker Carlson Tonight at 8 p.m. (4,369,000 total, 794,000 in the demo), The Five at 5 p.m. (3,446,000 total, 527,000 in the demo), and The Ingraham Angle at 10 p.m. (3,293,000 total, 636,000 in the demo).

Rachel Maddow’s position on the cable news ranking has fallen significantly since the conclusion of the Russia investigation, during which the MSNBC host went all in on coverage and occasionally traded places with Sean Hannity for ratings supremacy.

On the positive side, MSNBC earned top ratings during its coverage of the Democratic National Convention — despite encountering technical difficulties — though shrank during the Republican National Convention the following week, as Fox News became the go-to network.

MSNBC’s demo woes come as the network tries out a gamble. It announced in August that Nicolle Wallace’s popular show Deadline: White House would be expanded into two hours.

Meanwhile, despite the Republican Convention drawing fewer viewers than the Democratic edition, Fox News took the prize for the most watched night of either showing. For President Donald Trump’s speech on Thursday night, Fox’s coverage drew more than 9 million viewers — an astonishing number.

Fox Business notched some impressive growth in August as well. The network’s business day programming drew 28 percent from August 2019, and it enjoyed its most watched convention coverage in history.