For years, MSNBC was the cable news network without an identity, as one after another big-name host was shuffled through, only to flop: Ron Reagan Jr., Phil Donahue, Maury Povich and Connie Chung, to name just four.
Then six months ago network president Rick Kaplan was ousted, setting up what looked to be yet another round of changes for the distant No. 3 cable news network and more disappointing ratings.
Quite the opposite has happened.
There have been minimal changes under new general manager Dan Abrams and ratings are way up. MSNBC had one its best-ever fourth quarters with gains of more than a third in primetime among the key adults 25-54 demographic.
Has MSNBC found itself at last?
Abrams says yes, and it's done so by playing to its three strongest suits: its established on-air personalities, such as Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann, its coverage of politics, and its ties with NBC News.
“We have better synergy with NBC News than ever before, and our programming is as exciting, interesting and irreverent as it has been in a long time. Our primetime hosts really found a voice,” says Abrams, who rose from NBC News legal correspondent. “We’re more interesting and more opinionated at night.”
NBC News personalities like Brian Williams, David Gregory and Tim Russert make more frequent appearances on MSNBC than a year ago. The network has put special focus on politics, with specials like today's all-politics day coinciding with the first day of the new Congress.
Thus MSNBC was the only cable news network to see increases in total viewers and adults 25-54 this year, according to Nielsen data released yesterday. While CNN, Headline News and Fox News declined, MSNBC was up 6 percent in total viewers in primetime, from 363,000 to 385,000, and 8 percent in 25-54s, from 147,000 to 159,000.
It also saw gains in total day, rising 8 percent in total viewers, from 244,000 to 263,000, and 12 percent in 25-54s, from 99,000 to 111,000.
Still, it remains well behind Fox News and CNN. Longtime leader Fox News averaged 1.4 million primetime viewers in 2006, about double CNN’s 753,000. In 25-54s, Fox News had 347,000 and CNN 248,000. Both were down from last year.
MSNBC clocked its biggest gains in the fourth quarter, when it was in its closest competitive position to the other two networks. It was up more than a third among 25-54s in both primetime and total day, led by a 67 percent year-to-year increase by “Countdown with Keith Olbermann.”
Olbermann morphed into a media superstar as the go-to liberal media pundit after the Democrats’ midterm elections victory.
His 8 p.m. show posted the network’s best ratings ever for the timeslot, averaging 479,000 total viewers, up 24 percent over last year.
Other shows also did well in the network’s later-primetime slots. “Scarborough Country” was up 28 percent in fourth quarter to an average 487,000 viewers.
Meanwhile, in other cable ratings for the 2006 season:
Top five networks in primetime (18-49s): USA, TNT, ESPN, TBSC, FX
Top five networks in primetime (total viewers): USA, TNT, ESPN, TBSC, Lifetime
Top movie (18-49s): USA’s “Pirates of the Caribbean” (Saturday July 15, 8 p.m.) 3.63 million
Top sporting event (total viewers): ESPN’s “Giants/Cowboys” (Monday October 23, 8:30 p.m.) 16.03 million
Top drama: (18-49s): FX’s “Nip Tuck” (Tuesday Sept. 5, 10 p.m.) 3.65 million
Top reality show: (18-49s): VH1’s “Flavor of Love 2” (Sunday Oct. 29, 10 p.m.) 3.96 million
|
TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Ranked on Household Rating
2006 Season |
|
Rank |
Primetime |
Total Day |
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
USA |
1978 |
NICK |
1660 |
|
2 |
TNT |
1837 |
NAN* |
1137 |
|
3 |
ESPN |
1598 |
TNT |
1066 |
|
4 |
TBSC |
1242 |
USA |
976 |
|
5 |
LIF |
1240 |
TOON |
959 |
|
6 |
TOON |
1210 |
ADSM* |
878 |
|
7 |
NAN |
1207 |
LIF |
797 |
|
8 |
FOXN |
1118 |
TBSC |
754 |
|
9 |
FX |
941 |
ESPN |
745 |
|
10 |
SPK |
932 |
FOXN |
697 |
|
11 |
HALL |
889 |
MTV |
562 |
|
12 |
AEN |
858 |
HALL |
553 |
|
13 |
HIST |
839 |
AEN |
543 |
|
14 |
SCIF |
839 |
FX |
531 |
|
15 |
HGTV |
838 |
DISC |
527 |
|
16 |
DISC |
828 |
FAM |
519 |
|
17 |
MTV |
821 |
TVLD |
505 |
|
18 |
AMC |
789 |
HGTV |
499 |
|
19 |
FAM |
787 |
HIST |
494 |
|
20 |
CMDY |
777 |
SPK |
492 |
|
21 |
TVLD |
735 |
FOOD |
481 |
|
22 |
CORT |
719 |
CMDY |
469 |
|
23 |
CNN |
633 |
AMC |
449 |
|
24 |
TLC |
625 |
CNN |
422 |
|
25 |
FOOD |
597 |
CORT |
416 |
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
|
TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE PROGRAMS
Ranked on Households
2006 Season |
|
Rank |
Program |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
Giants/Cowboys |
ESPN |
11808 |
|
2 |
Falcons/Saints |
ESPN |
10859 |
|
3 |
Bears/Cardinals |
ESPN |
10806 |
|
4 |
Steelers/Jaguars |
ESPN |
9810 |
|
5 |
Ravens/Broncos |
ESPN |
9462 |
|
6 |
Packers/Eagles |
ESPN |
9428 |
|
7 |
Packers/Seahawks |
ESPN |
9309 |
|
8 |
Vikings/Redskins |
ESPN |
9177 |
|
9 |
Patriots/Vikings |
ESPN |
8872 |
|
10 |
Bears/Rams |
ESPN |
8490 |
|
11 |
Giants/Jaguars |
ESPN |
8234 |
|
12 |
Panthers/Eagles |
ESPN |
7972 |
|
13 |
Chargers/Raiders |
ESPN |
7872 |
|
14 |
Raiders/Seahawks |
ESPN |
7587 |
|
15 |
Buccaneers/Panthers |
ESPN |
7327 |
|
16 |
Broken Trail Pt 2 |
AMC |
6946 |
|
17 |
Broken Trail Pt 1 |
AMC |
6869 |
|
18 |
Rams/Cowboys |
ESPN |
6654 |
|
19 |
Florida State/Miami |
ESPN |
6333 |
|
20 |
The Closer |
TNT |
6173 |
|
21 |
Giants/Raiders |
ESPN |
5758 |
|
22 |
The Closer |
TNT |
5750 |
|
23 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
5482 |
|
24 |
The Closer |
TNT |
5289 |
|
25 |
The Closer |
TNT |
5268 |
|
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 18-34
2006 Season |
|
Rank |
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
USA |
535 |
ADSM* |
369 |
|
2 |
TBSC |
477 |
NAN* |
338 |
|
3 |
ESPN |
465 |
NICK |
315 |
|
4 |
TNT |
458 |
TBSC |
289 |
|
5 |
MTV |
437 |
TNT |
288 |
|
6 |
FX |
366 |
MTV |
269 |
|
7 |
CMDY |
352 |
ESPN |
262 |
|
8 |
SPK |
324 |
USA |
261 |
|
9 |
VH1 |
275 |
CMDY |
208 |
|
10 |
DISC |
268 |
FX |
205 |
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 18-34
2006 Season |
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1 |
Giants/Cowboys |
ESPN |
3805 |
|
2 |
Falcons/Saints |
ESPN |
3520 |
|
3 |
Steelers/Jaguars |
ESPN |
3452 |
|
4 |
Flavor of Love 2 |
VH1 |
3400 |
|
5 |
Bears/Cardinals |
ESPN |
3384 |
|
6 |
Packers/Eagles |
ESPN |
3140 |
|
7 |
Packers/Seahawks |
ESPN |
3061 |
|
8 |
Ravens/Broncos |
ESPN |
2958 |
|
9 |
Chargers/Raiders |
ESPN |
2848 |
|
10 |
Vikings/Redskins |
ESPN |
2829 |
|
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 18-49
2006 Season |
|
Rank |
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
USA |
1174 |
TNT |
647 |
|
2 |
TNT |
1073 |
NAN* |
572 |
|
3 |
ESPN |
974 |
USA |
568 |
|
4 |
TBSC |
931 |
TBSC |
539 |
|
5 |
FX |
729 |
NICK |
516 |
|
6 |
SPK |
667 |
ESPN |
491 |
|
7 |
DISC |
610 |
ADSM* |
487 |
|
8 |
CMDY |
595 |
LIF |
419 |
|
9 |
LIF |
583 |
FX |
396 |
|
10 |
AEN |
569 |
DISC |
359 |
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 18-49
2006 Season |
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1 |
Giants/Cowboys |
ESPN |
8191 |
|
2 |
Falcons/Saints |
ESPN |
7887 |
|
3 |
Bears/Cardinals |
ESPN |
7355 |
|
4 |
Steelers/Jaguars |
ESPN |
7112 |
|
5 |
Packers/Eagles |
ESPN |
6782 |
|
6 |
Packers/Seahawks |
ESPN |
6508 |
|
7 |
Ravens/Broncos |
ESPN |
6393 |
|
8 |
Vikings/Redskins |
ESPN |
6194 |
|
9 |
Patriots/Vikings |
ESPN |
5992 |
|
10 |
Chargers/Raiders |
ESPN |
5846 |
|
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 25-54
2006 Season |
|
|
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
|
Rank |
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1 |
USA |
1189 |
TNT |
663 |
|
2 |
TNT |
1146 |
USA |
568 |
|
3 |
ESPN |
983 |
TBSC |
475 |
|
4 |
TBSC |
853 |
NAN* |
461 |
|
5 |
FX |
674 |
ESPN |
455 |
|
6 |
SPK |
662 |
LIF |
443 |
|
7 |
LIF |
651 |
NICK |
406 |
|
8 |
SCIF |
620 |
FX |
357 |
|
9 |
DISC |
618 |
DISC |
356 |
|
10 |
AEN |
578 |
AEN |
341 |
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 25-54
2006 Season |
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1 |
Giants/Cowboys |
ESPN |
8384 |
|
2 |
Falcons/Saints |
ESPN |
7787 |
|
3 |
Bears/Cardinals |
ESPN |
7607 |
|
4 |
Steelers/Jaguars |
ESPN |
7197 |
|
5 |
Packers/Eagles |
ESPN |
6756 |
|
6 |
Vikings/Redskins |
ESPN |
6572 |
|
7 |
Ravens/Broncos |
ESPN |
6408 |
|
8 |
Packers/Seahawks |
ESPN |
6387 |
|
9 |
Patriots/Vikings |
ESPN |
6068 |
|
10 |
Bears/Rams |
ESPN |
5738 |
|
Source: Turner Entertainment Research based on data from Nielsen Media Research. |
