On Off Night Friday For Fox’s Hannity, MSNBC’s Maddow Closes In

Cable news ratings, March 25, 2011:

•Ratings tend to falter on Fridays, and Fox’s Sean Hannity had an unusually low-rated show, with just 388,000 viewers 25-54 (Hannity rarely falls below half a million viewers in the demo, and often reaches ratings hundreds of thousands higher, in territory usually owned only by Fox’s Bill O’Reilly). The lower-than-normal showing allowed MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow to get very close to an upset, with 362,000 viewers. CNN’s Piers Morgan was third, with 220,000.

Among total viewers, the 9 p.m. hour was no contest, with Hannity far out in front with 1,766,000 viewers, compared to Maddow’s 941,000 and Morgan’s 657,000.

•One of MSNBC’s other top stars, Lawrence O’Donnell, meanwhile, had a tough night, finishing third behind CNN’s Eliot Spitzer-led In the Arena. Fox’s Bill O’Reilly won the hour, with 578,000 in the demo, followed by Arena with 256,000. O’Donnell had 220,000.

Here’s the full scoreboard: