Ratings for October are out and they are smoking!
Rachel beat Larry King, Keith beat Campbell Brown, and Hardball beat Lou Dobbs. MSNBC PWNED the 7-10PM slot!
Here are the basic numbers:
7PM
"Hardball": 458,000 (A25-54)
"Lou Dobbs Tonight": 428,000 (A25-54)
8PM
"Countdown with Keith Olbermann": 784,000 (A25-54)
"Campbell Brown": 582,000 (A25-54)
9PM
"The Rachel Maddow Show": 700,000 (A25-54)
"Larry King Live": 673,000 (A25-54)
If you are like me, you were depressed and angry at the media coverage leading up to the Iraq war and the 2004 election. It was as if there was not a single voice for reason and logic, no progressive politician or liberal activist could get air time without being ridiculed, cut off, shouted down and called Anti-American. Keith said when he wanted Al Franken back on his show for a second day his bosses chided him, "do you have to put a liberal on the show twice in a week?" That was in 2002 folks. Enter the new Age of Reason and Responsibility in the media. There are just as many, if not more, people on our side who would support the voice of reason as there are crazies on the other side that crave unreason. Witness the change 2008 has already brought to the media world:
The Hollywood Reporter:
MSNBC turned in its best primetime performance in its 12-year history in the adults 25-54 demo, according to Nielsen Media Research. It surpassed CNN for second place between 7-10 p.m. with "Hardball," "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" and "The Rachel Maddow Show."
There's more fantastic news for Keith - he beat CNN not just in A25-54 but also in overall numbers:
"Countdown with Keith Olbermann" continued its dominance over CNN at 8 p.m., out-rating "Campbell Brown" by 35 percent in A25-54 (784,000 vs. 582,000) and 41 percent in total viewers (2,175,000 vs. 1,540,000). "Countdown" had its best month ever among A25-54 in October, and is up a tremendous 170 percent in A25-54 from Oct. 07 (784,000 vs. 290,000) and up 180 percent in total viewers (2,175,000 vs. 776,000). Excluding coverage of the presidential debates, "Countdown" is the #3 top-rated show in cable news in A25-54. "Countdown" is also the #1 cable news show among young viewers, Adults 18-34.
But the real growth story is Rachel:
MSNBC's seven-week old "The Rachel Maddow Show" marked a huge milestone, out-rating CNN's "Larry King Live" in just its second month on the air among Adults 25-54, the first time ever MSNBC has out-rated CNN at 9 p.m. (700,000 vs. 673,000, program data, excludes presidential debates). "The Rachel Maddow Show" is up an astounding 396 percent from Oct. 07 among A25-54 (700,000 vs. 141,000) and up 387 percent in total viewers (1,893,000 vs. 389,000).
So, what did the losers have to say about all this?
it is no surprise that their partisan approach will see a bump a month before the election. We think our objective, post-partisan approach will have better long-term results.
CNN just doesn't get it. When two guys are playing and one of them plays dirty, it is the duty of the referee to call out the dirt bag. If your calls are fair, the dirt bag must lose because he is playing dirty. If you try to "balance", you are simply not fair. And so Mr Anderson Cooper reports yesterday that the McCain campaign has unleashed attack ads using Rev Wright and asks his panel "Will this work". Not a single question about whether it is right for the McCain campaign to do this. No reference to the fact that Obama has denounced and renounced the things that Rev Wright has said. Nothing. Just a question about whether this will help McCain. This is not objective reporting you idiots, this is trying to make the two sides come out even when one side is sinking unbelievably low. This the same myopic "reporting" that helped Bush invade Iraq by skewing the public opinion. And now you have your reward for sticking with your very quaint notion of objectivity. People seeking real objectivity flock to MSNBC.
Incredibly, its not just CNN but these DINOs (and I suspect, PUMAs) are also critical of MSNBC's success:
The cable news channel is "completely out of control," said writer-producer Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, a self-proclaimed liberal Democrat.
She added that she would prefer a lunch date with right-leaning Fox News star Sean Hannity over left-leaning MSNBC star Keith Olbermann.
Bloodworth-Thomason and others seemed especially critical of the way MSNBC -- and other media -- has attacked Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin while demeaning her supporters.
"We should stop the demonizing," she said
Yep, Sean Hannity has only called Obama a Marxist, a socialist who will take from the rich and give to the lazy blacks who don't want to work, a secret muslim who hates Israel, and a racist who associates with domestic terrorists. Now that is not demonizing. The ilks of Ms Bloodworth-Thomason will have a lunch date with him rather than with the guy that reports the fact that the RNC spent $150,000 on Sarah Plain's clothes. What a stupid jerk. Well, I am glad people like you do not have a place in the people-powered party of Barack Obama.
I leave you with these images of Ms Maddow laughing at her critics:
UPDATE 1 Lot of comments about Fox's ratings. From Blarghman's comment:
Hannity & Colmes — 3,229,000 viewers ; 25-54 (899,000); 35-64 (1,496,000)
Larry King Live–1,426,000 viewers; 25-54 (517,000); 35-64 (695,000)
Rachel Maddow Show—2,479,000 viewers; 25-54 (964,000) ; 35-64 (1,364,000)
So, last night, Rachel beat not only CNN but Fox in the 25-54 demo, which is of course a key advertising demo.