Cable news ratings, April 18, 2011:
•CNN’s Piers Morgan had a night to forget Tuesday–ratings-wise, at least. With viewership lower overall for Passover, and a serious topic on the agenda (the first anniversary of the BP oil spill), the show hit its lowest rating to date among viewers 25-54. Piers Morgan Tonight landed in fourth place with 77,000 viewers, behind HLN’s Dr. Drew with 94,000, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow with 300,000 and Fox’s Sean Hannity with 511,000. (Among total viewers, Morgan beat Dr. Drew to take third place)
It’s the new show’s weakest performance since its debut, but overall, PMT remains an improvement in the 9 p.m. hour, up nearly 60 percent among viewers 25-54 compared to the fourth quarter of 2010, when Larry King had the hour.
•Meanwhile, CNN’s other new show, In the Arena, also landed in fourth place Tuesday, but in a competitive way. The Eliot Spitzer-led show, which has been exceptionally aggressive of late, was CNN’s top prime performer on the night with 143,000 viewers 25-54. Arena was just beaten by HLN’s Nancy Grace with 175,000 and within reach of MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell, who had 229,000. Fox’s Bill O’Reilly won the hour with 613,000.
Here’s the full scoreboard:
| TV NEWS RATINGS: 25-54 DEMOGRAPHIC (L +SD) | ||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| 5 pm | Beck
349 |
Blitzer
117 |
Matthews
153 |
Showbiz
54 |
| 6 pm | Baier
347 |
Blitzer
82 |
Live
148 |
Prime
63 |
| 7 pm | Shep
297 |
King, USA
101 |
Matthews
178 |
Issues
88 |
| 8 pm | O’Reilly
613 |
InTheArena
143 |
O’Donnell
229 |
Grace
175 |
| 9 pm | Hannity
511 |
Morgan
77 |
Maddow
300 |
DrDrew
94 |
| 10 pm | Van Susteren
397 |
Cooper
108 |
Schultz
273 |
Behar
75 |
| 11 pm | O’Reilly
356 |
Cooper
127 |
O’Donnell
198 |
Showbiz
93 |
| TOTAL DAY | 280 | 108 | 143 | 92 |
| PRIME TIME | 507 | 109 | 267 | 112 |
| Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data. | ||||
| TV NEWS RATINGS: TOTAL VIEWERS (L +SD) | ||||
|
|
|
|
|
| 5 pm | Beck
1694 |
Blitzer
553 |
Matthews
755 |
Showbiz
148 |
| 6 pm | Baier
1868 |
Blitzer
479 |
Live
688 |
Prime
192 |
| 7 pm | Shep
1629 |
King, USA
379 |
Matthews
657 |
Issues
299 |
| 8 pm | O’Reilly
3020 |
InTheArena
430 |
O’Donnell
1038 |
Grace
560 |
| 9 pm | Hannity
2082 |
Morgan
354 |
Maddow
947 |
DrDrew
260 |
| 10 pm | Van Susteren
1766 |
Cooper
453 |
Schultz
829 |
Behar
241 |
| 11 pm | O’Reilly
1258 |
Cooper
312 |
O’Donnell
527 |
Showbiz
278 |
| TOTAL DAY | 1291 | 378 | 518 | 247 |
| PRIME TIME | 2294 | 413 | 943 | 345 |
| Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data | ||||
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