August Ratings: The 8pm Picture

Keith Olbermann‘s year-to-year growth may be the story at MSNBC, but Countdown was still #3 at 8pmET. Even with CNN’s hodge-podge of a schedule at 8 (Paula Zahn‘s last days, Out in the Open, CNN Special Reports, and an airing of Larry King) Olbermann trailed CNN in total viewers and the 25-54 demo. These are Nielsen LIVE numbers only, so they do not include DVR data, which Countdown generally benefits from.

— FNC — O’Reilly — 2,096,000
— CNN — Various — 727,000
— MSNBC — Countdown — 638,000

— FNC — O’Reilly — 420,000
— CNN — Various — 242,000
— MSNBC — Countdown — 218,000

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