Cable news ratings, April 22, 2011:
•On an overall down night for the cable news networks (O’Reilly didn’t even break 400,000 in the demo–a rarity), viewers chose MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow over Fox’s Sean Hannity special, Behind the Bias: The History of Liberal Media. Among key viewers 25-54, Maddow edged Hannity 348,000 viewers to 343,000 (Among total viewers, Hannity came in first). CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight was fifth (behind HLN and CNBC), with just 86,000 viewers for a repeat of a show featuring Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher.
•At Fox News, the suggestion it could be the final edition of Glenn Beck‘s 5 p.m. program gave the show the network’s highest ratings of the night in terms of viewers 25-54, with 413,000 (beating all other shows in cable news in the demo for the night). Bret Baier was second, with 392,000, followed by The O’Reilly Factor with 369,000.
Here’s the full scoreboard:
| TV NEWS RATINGS: 25-54 DEMOGRAPHIC (L +SD) | ||||
| 5 pm | Beck 413 | Blitzer 94 | Matthews 152 | Showbiz 51 |
| 6 pm | Baier 392 | Blitzer 109 | Live 129 | Prime 74 |
| 7 pm | Shep 360 | King, USA 87 | Matthews 139 | Issues 80 |
| 8 pm | O’Reilly 369 | InTheArena 77 | O’Donnell 254 | Grace 155 |
| 9 pm | Hannity 343 | Morgan 86 | Maddow 348 | DrDrew 101 |
| 10 pm | Van Susteren 261 | Cooper 130 | Schultz 190 | Behar 86 |
| 11 pm | O’Reilly 193 | Cooper 146 | O’Donnell 225 | Showbiz 110 |
| TOTAL DAY | 263 | 121 | 152 | 88 |
| PRIME TIME | 325 | 97 | 264 | 112 |
| Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data. | ||||
| TV NEWS RATINGS: TOTAL VIEWERS (L +SD) | ||||
| 5 pm | Beck 1869 | Blitzer 398 | Matthews 707 | Showbiz 176 |
| 6 pm | Baier 1905 | Blitzer 414 | Live 613 | Prime 296 |
| 7 pm | Shep 1520 | King, USA 341 | Matthews 601 | Issues 359 |
| 8 pm | O’Reilly 1854 | InTheArena 357 | O’Donnell 819 | Grace 538 |
| 9 pm | Hannity 1403 | Morgan 265 | Maddow 959 | DrDrew 212 |
| 10 pm | Van Susteren 1151 | Cooper 399 | Schultz 375 | Behar 225 |
| 11 pm | O’Reilly 764 | Cooper 359 | O’Donnell 374 | Showbiz 231 |
| TOTAL DAY | 1142 | 378 | 465 | 236 |
| PRIME TIME | 1470 | 340 | 718 | 322 |
| Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data | ||||