Perhaps the most overused phrase within the English language in describing swift retribution is the phrase “what goes around comes around,” however in this particular instance it’s perhaps the only phrase that best describes the sudden seismic ratings plunge within the liberal media, immediately following the Mueller Report’s public announcement, that there was “no collusion”, and “no obstruction.”
MSNBC’s progressive host Rachel Maddow’s on Monday experienced a stunning 19% drop among her 2.5 million viewers, well below her average for the year. Remarkably within just 24 hours24 hours Maddow’s viewing audience on Tuesday shrunk even further with 2.3 million viewers tuning in.
Her plummeting ratings is the apparent result of a well-deserved backlash by ardent hardcore progressive viewers who believed Maddow’s lies and willful deceit for nearly 3-years that President Trump conspired with the Russians in winning the presidency, perhaps even being a secret Russian spy.
Maddow’s outrageous assertions proved false, thus sending her loyal viewers into a state of anxiety, confusion, bewilderment and finally anger towards the MSNBC host, moreover manifesting itself within her dismal rating decline on Monday and again on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, her head-to-head competition in the 9 p.m. slot is Fox’s own Sean Hannity who suddenly saw an increase of 4-million new viewers Monday night, or roughly a 32% increase from his usual average. That percentage for the conservative host slipped slightly on Tuesday to 3.57 million viewers tuning in.
Moreover, the sudden increase in viewership wasn’t only limited to Hannity; other Fox hosts also saw a marked increase within their respective time slots. For example, Fox’s Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham both enjoyed impressive bumps within their ratings, topping their average on both monday night’s telecasts and again on Tuesday night, while conversely, prime-time hosts on MSNBC and CNN saw their ratings plunge.
CNN’s head honcho Brian Stelter actually attempted to spin the bad news by blaming the rating dip on a “slow news week.” Really! The release of the Mueller report on Friday afternoon, followed-up on Sunday with a summery letter by the Attorney General, is considered a “slow news week’?
Stelter attempted to double down on his absurd claim writing in his newsletter “Reliable Sources” Wednesday night that viewers aren’t tuning in to CNN and MSNBC because “there hasn’t been much news” since special counsel Robert Mueller delivered his report on Russian collusion to Attorney General Bill Barr. Fox News has not been affected by the alleged slow news week, Stelter reasoned, because Barr’s letter on the Mueller findings is “being celebrated like a sequel to election night.”
Joe Concha, a media reporter for The Hill, and also a Fox contributor, explained that there had been plenty of big stories for the media to cover since Mueller finished his investigation and suggested the ratings drop is due to a lack of trust among viewers.
“Yesterday, CNN didn’t even average more than 540,000 viewers as a 40-year-old network with a big brand name and a crazy news cycle,” Concha argued.
As for Stelter’s silly assertions that it was a slow news week, perhaps we should’ve ignored Michael Avenatti being slapped with federal charges of alleged fraud, extortion, including wire and bank fraud. Or the Jussie Smollett’s case that suddenly took a bizarre turn, when prosecutors suddenly announced they were dropping the 16-count indictment for no apparent reason against the EMPIRE actor after an Obama crony contacted the State Attorneys office.
What isn’t in doubt is that Fox News according to the Nielsen Media Group continues to dominate the nightly competition beginning with their anchor Bret Baier host of Special Report averaging just over 2.3 million viewers with about 364,000 of them within that key demographic of 24 to 54 years of age.
My contrast MSNBC’s breaking coverage regarding the conclusion of the Mueller investigation garnered just 1.7 million viewers and nearly ¼ of a million within that sweet spot demo, whereas CNN only managed to attract 1 million viewers, however, they did have 291,000 viewers within that 24 to 54 age bracket.
However, Fox led both MSNBC and CNN from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., averaging 2,5 million viewers, compared to MSNBC’s 2 million and CNN’s nearly 1 million viewers.
