MSNBC’s Hardball Leads Time Slot in Total Viewers Wednesday, Maddow Beats Hannity

MSNBC continues to be a real thorn in the side of Fox News, as Rachel Maddow is not the only on-air personality who can claim a ratings win over a competitor.

Hardball with Chris Matthews had a good night on Wednesday, beating both Fox News and CNN in total viewers, though falling just short in the key demo of adults between the ages of 25 and 54, pulling down a total viewership of 1,963,000. Fox News’ The Story with Martha MacCallum took the key demo with 402,000 viewers between the ages of 25 and 54. The Story fell just short in total viewership with 1.921 million.

Elsewhere on MSNBC, The Rachel Maddow Show, which airs at 9 p.m., had another major night as it once again was the most-watched program on cable news, clocking in a total viewership of 3,283,000 and easily snagging a win in the key demo. Overall, the network claimed a primetime victory in that key demo, with an average of 596,000 viewers, but was just edged out in total viewers (2.634 million) by Fox News.

Speaking of Fox News, their big winner was Tucker Carlson Tonight, which airs at 8 p.m., achieving 2,967,000, followed closely by Hannity, which airs at 9 p.m., with 2,862,000. As for the 25-54 demo, Tucker Carlson’s program took the lead, with 601,000. Fox News’ average primetime viewership for Wednesday was 2,717,000, the highest of all three major networks.

CNN continued to flounder, with both hours of Anderson Cooper 360 pulling in solid, if not spectacular, numbers, with the 8 p.m. hour boasting a total viewership of 1,277,000. As far as an average total viewership for the night, CNN earned less than half the numbers of rival networks, with an average of 1,181,000 viewers.

As for the entire day’s (6 a.m. to 2 a.m.) programming, Fox News easily took the crown, with an average viewership of 1,724,000. MSNBC came in second with an average viewership of 1,399,000. CNN, as usual, limped into third, with an average viewership of 818,000.

[image by screenshot]

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