MSNBC'S 'DONAHUE' HITS LOWEST NIELSEN RATING POSSIBLE

Drudge Report ^ | 08/27/2002 | Matt Drudge

[Pokey78]

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX TUESDAY AUGUST 27, 2002 16:25:04 ET XXXXX

MSNBC'S 'DONAHUE' HITS LOWEST NIELSEN RATING POSSIBLE

Phil Donahue has plunged in total collapse on MSNBC with cable viewers, NIELSEN ratings show.

DONAHUE has sunk to a basement rating of a .1, according to sources, the lowest possible rating's measure available!

MORE

Last Friday night, DONAHUE earned a .1 to CONNIE CHUNG's .6 on CNN and O'REILLY's 1.0 on FOX NEWS.

Even more amazingly, MSNBC for the entire day average only a 0.2, and it was beaten by both CNN'S HEADLINE NEWS channel and CNBC that day. (FOX was .6, CNN .5, MSNBC .2).

For the month of August, MSNBC's M-F prime time is down 21% among the key demos (25-54) from a year ago. Year over year, in total weekday ratings, FOX is up 75%, CNN is up 25%, and MSNBC is flat, with 0% growth.

CABLE WARS:

Friday August 23 at 8 PM ET: O'Reilly 1.0; Connie .6; Donahue .1

9 PM ET: Larry King 1.1; Hannity and Colmes .7; Hardball w/Matthews .3

10 PM ET Greta 0.7; Brown 0.5; Nachman .2

Developing...

[GulliverSwift]

Everyone must have had a little to much to drink. :)

[Grampa Dave]

That was good news about Saddam's recent loss of his intell eyes on our Fleet and air arm.

That was a great pickup of yours re GW's comment about the PA thug shot four times.

That had to send a chill of Saddam, the Islamakazis and Vile Opecker Princes throughout the Middle East.

How did GW know the PA thug had been shot four times? Only the Shadow knows!

[GulliverSwift]

I think it's got to be a family thing. She's probably too old to be his daughter so maybe she's his sister or neice.

[LeeMcCoy]

Wow! Some good news for a change! :-D

[grasshopper]

Low ratings?

The King is dead, long live the Queen!

[RoseofTexas]

Outta curiousity what are the Serpenthead ratings anyway?. They seem never to mention where if any the serpenthead clown show ratings are?! I pray that circus also ends up in the DUNG HEAP!!

[cricket]

Did these fools really think hot talk with Louie Farrakan would give him a needed boost?

Donahue cannot seem to adjust his demeanor from the big audience to a table with monitor; his wild eyes, gesticulations are way too big for that little camera; worse than being a Liberal, he is just a Liberal embarassment. . .

[Miss Marple]

I go to a bar with some co-workers every Wednesday night, and for some unknown reason, his show is always on their television.

Obviously, bar-owners are using the show to increase drink orders. This is the explanation for the .1 ratings...bar television sets. We will probably find out he is backed by the liquor industry.

[SheLion]

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!

[Grampa Dave]

You asking the worst person in the world about Asp Carville's ratings.

I would not watch him, if I was paid big time to watch him!

He is a sacred icon of the liberal left. He made the Clintoon President two times and kept him from being forced out by impeachment. So CNN or the DNC Bravo Sierra Spreading Net will carry him regardless if he has a negative rating.

[rdb3]

DONAHUE has sunk to a basement rating of a .1, according to sources, the lowest possible rating's measure available!

Dang. I do better than that just by running in the morning.

[SheLion]

I've noticed MSNBC becoming more and more liberal in their reporting in their regular reporting as well. And it started about the time they launched their ad campaign claiming to be an independent, objective voice. What a joke!

I have noticed a subtle changing as well. And I don't like what I am hearing from them.

[rvoitier]

"I understand a .1 is great ratings for the 1930's."

...or Russia.

[tutstar]

COOL!

I can't believe Larry King is beating Hannity& Colmes though.

[rvoitier]

I see where you're going with this:
As the liberal elite thinks the U.S. hasn't thrown enough money at the problem of poverty, MSNBC thinks they haven't thrown enough socialism at the airwaves.

By jove! I think you've got it, Man!

BBBBBWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

[C.C. Pelican Brown]

Hey MSNBC! Smell the cuahfee! Talk radio hosts = big viewerships! Go out ona limb & become talk radio tv! Can't be any worse than what yer doin' now. :) Neal Boortz; Rush; Ingraham; Coulter; Savage; yadayada! They already have diehard fans in the millions... be daring! CNN is already taking babysteps in that direction...

[doug from upland]

The .1 may not be good ratings for TV, but doesn't that make Phil legally drunk in every state?

[Timesink]

I had no idea Hardball and Nachman were doing so bad.

The main reason Hardball's ratings have fallen through the floor is the time slot switched forced upon Chris Matthews. He was a perfect fit at 7pm, because the only alternatives were the Fox Report (hard news) and Crossfire (now so utterly silly and inane that anyone interested in at least half-serious debate automatically switched to Hardball. But at 9, he's up against far more serious competition. H&C are directly competing with Matthews, and they're simply more popular. And Larry King, whose ratings aren't exactly bad on the worst of days, has his numbers shoot through the roof whenever he bags somebody good, like a near-death celeb (remember, TV news skews so old that the average viewer is in his/her mid-50s) or a big murder story. I know plenty of people that check out Larry first to see who he's having on, and then make their decision to stick with Larry or go to Matthews or H&C on any given night. To sum up, there is no other time slot, day or night, that's worse for Chris Matthews than 9pm. It also doesn't help that he's been shoved onto MSNBC full time instead of having dual runs on MSNBC and CNBC, because, let's face it, when your lead-in is getting a 0.1, you're going to get screwed over big time. Lead-ins are very important. Even today when everyone's got remote controls, there's still a strong tendency to turn on a channel and just leave it there for hours. IMHO, Chris should get his agent to demand a renegotiation of his contract to insure he gets a better time slot, or he should walk to CNN or Fox.

As for Nachman, he's not doing that bad. The only reason he even showed up on Drudge's ratings list is that on Friday nights only, the 7pm Nachman is rerun at 10pm, because for whatever reason Ashleigh Banfield in incapable of handing more than four shows a week. The Friday 10pm Nachman is almost never advertised, and of course itself suffers from the 8-9pm mindbogglingly low ratings for the other two shows. I've been told his 7pm show is much more competitive in its time slot, but it's almost impossile to get access to any ratings except for the 8-11 prime time slots unless you actually work at a network or something that pays Nielsen for the data. I'd give anything to be able to say all-day ratings for the cable news nets.

[Timesink]

I was a guest on the Donohue Show on 12 November, 1976, back before Oprah became Phil, and Phil became nobody and retired. Edwin Newman was the guest on the show taped right after ours.

Completely irrelevant sidenote: Edwin Newman hosted one of the single funniest SNLs ever in 1983 or '84.

[The Person]

It's interesting that people criticize FOX for being conservative, but their lineup is one lib (Van Susteren), one conservative (O'Reilly), and a duo split between political views (Hannity & Colmes).

The others on CNN and MSNBC are all libs, as far as I can tell, not watching them much. It's not surprising that Hannity has lower ratings, since his the only FOX show with real competition against him (King & Matthews).