Ratings

25-54 demographic (Live +SD)

• Total day: FNC: 308 | MSNBC: 135 | CNN: 129 | HLN: 95

• Primetime: FNC: 490 | MSNBC: 294 | CNN: 188 | HLN: 151

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:	12a:
FNC	TheFive:	Baier:	Shep:	O’Reilly:	Hannity:	Greta:	O’Reilly:	Hannity:
	307	387	423	635	500	336	249	203
MSNBC	Matthews:	Sharpton:	Matthews:	EdShow:	Maddow:	O’Donnell:	EdShow:	Maddow:
	95	151	171	320	320	240	132	83
CNN	Blitzer:	KingUSA:	Burnett:	Cooper:	Morgan:	Cooper:	Burnett:	Morgan:
	214	148	107	160	214	189	125	73
HLN	Special:	Prime:	Issues:	Grace:	DrDrew:	Grace:	Showbiz:	DrDrew:
	21	52	69	187	169	101	87	67

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25-54 demographic (Live +SD)

• Total day: FNC: 344 | MSNBC: 133 | CNN: 148 | HLN: 74

• Primetime: FNC: 536 | MSNBC: 234 | CNN: 225 | HLN: 82

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:	12a:
FNC	TheFive:	Baier:	Shep:	O’Reilly:	Hannity:	Greta:	O’Reilly:	Hannity:
	465	423	455	667	480	459	463	361
MSNBC	Matthews:	Sharpton:	Matthews:	EdShow:	Maddow:	O’Donnell:	EdShow:	Maddow:
	146	183	257	231	249	220	117	114
CNN	Blitzer:	KingUSA:	Burnett:	Cooper:	Morgan:	Cooper:	Burnett:	Morgan:
	119	156	180	178	266	229	129	90
HLN	Special:	Prime:	Issues:	Grace:	DrDrew:	Grace:	Showbiz:	DrDrew:
	24	58	91	109	85	55	128	113

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Last month, we reported that ABC’s “Good Morning America,” in an increasingly close battle with NBC’s “Today,”  re-named a week of programming on a holiday week to eliminate the ratings from the national averages. In today’s New York Times, Bill Carter writes a front-page article examining tactics of trickery broadcast networks use when it comes to ratings:

NBC took the opposite path of ABC with the use of the term “special” in its presentation of the Republican primary debate on Jan. 23. Careful viewers noticed that the debate was labeled a regular edition of the network’s ratings-challenged newsmagazine program, “Rock Center with Brian Williams” — one that, as it turned out, just happened to double the show’s usual audience to just over 7.1 million viewers.

Networks closely track the gimmicks their competitors use to lift ratings, and it is a hotly debated subject within the industry, but most executives avoid speaking publicly about it so as not to be critical of tactics that they sometimes use themselves.

25-54 demographic (Live +SD)

• Total day: FNC: 365 | MSNBC: 144 | CNN: 156 | HLN: 75

• Primetime: FNC: 641 | MSNBC: 246 | CNN: 402 | HLN: 93

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:	12a:
FNC	TheFive:	Baier:	Shep:	Florida:	Florida:	Hannity:	Greta:	Hannity:
	401	383	506	705	663	555	494	306
MSNBC	Matthews:	Florida:	Florida:	Florida:	Florida:	Florida:	Florida:	Florida:
	165	119	229	245	284	207	140	102
CNN	Blitzer:	KingUSA:	Florida:	Florida:	Florida:	Cooper:	Cooper:	Morgan:
	114	185	300	422	465	319	175	86
HLN	Special:	Prime:	Issues:	Grace:	DrDrew:	Grace:	Showbiz:	DrDrew:
	32	41	73	138	67	83	106	64

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25-54 demographic (Live +SD)

• Total day: FNC: 336 | MSNBC: 158 | CNN: 124 | HLN: 104

• Primetime: FNC: 592| MSNBC: 265 | CNN: 198 | HLN: 166

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:	12a:
FNC	TheFive:	Baier:	Shep:	O’Reilly:	Hannity:	Greta:	O’Reilly:	Hannity:
	344	402	490	749	550	477	444	291
MSNBC	Matthews:	Sharpton:	Matthews:	EdShow:	Maddow:	O’Donnell:	EdShow:	Maddow:
	159	185	220	221	287	287	206	188
CNN	Blitzer:	KingUSA:	Burnett:	Cooper:	Morgan:	Cooper:	Burnett:	Morgan:
	125	107	127	169	161	263	197	125
HLN	Special:	Prime:	Issues:	Grace:	DrDrew:	Grace:	Showbiz:	DrDrew:
	19	113	169	242	153	110	94	134

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Fox News, which became the #1 news network in January 2002, had a strong January 2012.

The ratings for January, 2012:

• Primetime: 1.949 million total viewers/ 448,000 A25-54
• Total Day: 1.101 million total viewers/ 268,000 A25-54

The network was up +5% in viewership vs. January 2011, in both Total Viewers and younger viewers. In primetime, the network was up +6% in Total Viewers and +3% in younger viewers due in part to the network’s GOP debate on January 16 and coverage of the State of the Union address.

Among cable news shows, Fox News has the top 13 programs in Total Viewers and 9 of the top 10 in A25-54 viewers. Fox News’s 2012-to-date Primetime average is topping CNN and MSNBC combined. The biggest movers for the month: “Fox & Friends” was +21% in Total Viewers and +12% in younger viewers. And “On the Record” is up +7% / +19%. “The Five” which continues to grow, is down slightly from “Glenn Beck” which aired in the timeslot last January: down -7% / -13%.

CNN kicked off 2012 in solid shape, improving upon its year-ago numbers, and topping MSNBC in both total and demo viewers in primetime. January was a big news month, with a number of debates, primaries and the State of the Union Address, all of which helped contribute to CNN’s gains.

The ratings for January, 2012:

• Primetime (Mon-Sun): 842K Total Viewers / 282K A25-54
• Total Day (Mon-Sun): 445K Total Viewers / 139K A25-54

In primetime (Mon.-Sun.), CNN was up +25% in total viewers and +41% in the key A25-54 demographic compared to last year, placing it second behind Fox News in both categories. CNN was up +4% in total viewers and pup +7% in the demo in total day compared to last year.

“AC360″ continued to grow at both 8 and 10 PM. At 8 PM, the program was up +20% in total viewers and up +42% in the demo compared to last year, when “Parker Spitzer” was running. At 10 PM the program was up +28% in total viewers and +61% in the demo compared to its performance last year.

“Piers Morgan Tonight” was down double digits compared to last January, but that is because the program had strong tune-in for its launch week last year (beginning Jan. 17), driving up the monthly average.

In its first month on-air, the new CNN morning shows failed to light up the ratings wire, but they didn’t burn them out either.

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The battle for the #2 spot among the cable news networks continues this month between CNN and MSNBC. For the month of January, MSNBC placed third in primetime, behind Fox News and CNN. In Total Day, MSNBC came in #2 in Total Viewers, but placed #3 in the A25-54 demographic.

The ratings for January, 2012:

• Primetime (Mon-Sun): 804K Total Viewers / 219K A25-54
• Total Day (Mon-Sun): 452K Total Viewers / 133K A25-54

In primetime, both hours of “Hardball with Chris Matthews” stand out compared to last year: at 5pmET, the program is up +15% in Total Viewers and +5% in the demographic, and at 7pmET, the gains are +8% and +2%, respectively. Growth in the rest of the primetime lineup, which has seen several major changes in the past year, was scarce for MSNBC.

Keith Olbermann left MSNBC in January 2010, and in the year since his departure, the 8pmET timeslot — which has been home to programs hosted by Ed Schultz and Lawrence O’Donnell — is down -12% in Total Viewers and -29% in the A25-54 demographic. “The Rachel Maddow Show” was also down slightly: -2% in Total Viewers, and -8% in the demographic.

“Morning Joe” continues to be a draw for younger viewers, up +9% in the A25-54 demographic but down -4% in Total Viewers. Chuck Todd‘s “The Daily Rundown” is another bright spot for the network, growing +4% in Total Viewers and +27% in the demographic compared to January 2011.

The full release from MSNBC is after the jump.

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With the GOP primaries taking up much of the news hole, crime and court-heavy HLN did not have a strong showing in January. Compared to January 2011, HLN is down -14% in younger viewers in both total day and primetime. The network, however, was up +3% in Total Day viewing based, in part, on the strength of the weekend primetime HLN Mysteries.

The ratings for January, 2012:

• Primetime (Mon-Sun): 368,000 total viewers / 102,000 A25-54
• Total Day (Mon-Sun): 244,000 total viewers / 102,000 A25-54

“Morning Express with Robin Meade” is down -16% in Total Viewers and down -29% in A25-54 viewers compared to Jan. 2011. Adding an hour of “Morning Express” has helped the 11amET hour, however. It is up +16% in Total Viewers vs. “Showbiz Tonight” which aired at 11am last January. “Nancy Grace” at 8pm is down -24% / -36%. And “Dr. Drew” at 9pm is down -14% / -28% from last January. Joy Behar‘s show ran at 9pm for the first two weeks of January 2011.

25-54 demographic (Live +SD)

• Total day: FNC: 237 | MSNBC: 149 | CNN: 118 | HLN: 122

• Primetime: FNC: 295 | MSNBC: 180 | CNN: 137 | HLN: 137

	5p:	6p:	7p:	8p:	9p:	10p:	11p:	12a:
Fox News	NewsHQ:	FNSunday:	Report:	Huckabee:	FLPrimary:	Geraldo:	Huckabee:	FLPrimary:
	161	258	238	326	330	229	195	201
MSNBC	Reports:	Caught:	Caught:	Caught:	Caught:	SexSlaves:	SexSlaves:	SexSlaves:
	128	92	187	127	193	220	263	204
CNN	Newsroom:	Newsroom:	Newsroom:	Gupta:	Morgan:	Newsroom:	Gupta:	Morgan:
	130	127	99	109	126	175	128	73
HLN	Report:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:	Mysteries:
	155	134	191	165	118	127	122	131

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