MSNBC beat CNN in the 25-54 demographic at 7 and 8pm in February, thanks in part to the Olympics. Chris Matthews topped Wolf Blitzer by 17,000 demo viewers at 7pm and Keith Olbermann beat Paula Zahn by 11,000 demo viewers at 8pm. Hardball was up 91 percent from Feb. 05, while CNN was up just 9 percent. Countdown was up 56 percent from Feb. 05, while CNN was down 1 percent.

25-54 demographic:

7pm: FNC: 365,000 / CNN: 159,000 / MSNBC: 176,000

8pm: FNC: 458,000 / CNN: 152,000 / MSNBC: 163,000

> Update: 6:40pm: "I might could follow your pretzel logic had the Olympics aired directly before the 7pm and 8pm blocks on MSNBC. They didn't. And if the Olympics helped them so much, why didn't they help Dan Abrams who aired directly following the games each day on MSNBC? While CNN might like to BELIEVE that's why they lost in the key demo, I would suggest to you that the demo climb by MSNBC has been slowly building for quite awhile now. Let's see what CNN says next month when the same holds true," an e-mailer says...

> Update: 9:18pm: "MSNBC promoted the daylights out of its primetime coverage during the olympics. Hardball promos ran in every break. For some reason, MSNBC chose not to promote Abrams," an e-mailer adds. But another one points out that MSNBC was up against the Olympics on CNBC at 7pm and on NBC at 8pm...