The day after the election, MSNBC celebrated its ratings victory over CNN. It was the first time in history that MSNBC had beaten CNN in election night ratings.
I'm not exactly sure what they were celebrating. Fox News crushed both networks on election night, garnering more than 10 million viewers while MSNBC got 6 million and CNN received 5.1 million.
Meanwhile, after the election, ratings for both CNN and MSNBC cratered. Last Thursday, while Fox gathered 2.6 million eyeballs in primetime, MSNBC managed an audience of less than 600,000, just 71,000 in the coveted 25-54 demo. CNN brought in an embarrassing 419,000.
Fox News was up 60% compared to the same day last year while MSNBC shed 40% of its viewers. Prime time was even worse. The radical-left network lost 53% of its viewers compared to the same day last year.
A longtime TV news executive who asked to remain anonymous noted that MSNBC’s audience appeared to love to hate Trump during his first administration – but that doesn’t seem to be the case any longer.
"As its poor post-election night ratings show, MSNBC should not expect a ‘Trump Bump’ this time around. Even liberals are rejecting its condescending tone and the divisive rhetoric of its new standard-bearer, Joy Reid," the longtime TV news executive said.
NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck noted that MSNBC had very little to celebrate.
"While MSNBC thought they may have struck gold with the election night ratings, they should have realized by now that Americans only tuned in so they could see the meltdowns, not that they viewed it as consistently and intellectually stimulating television," Houck told Fox News Digital.
It's true. I was flipping to MSNBC as the night wore on just to see the astonishment cross their faces as Trump's electoral vote count mounted and defeat stared them in the face.
"During CNN's tumbles in past years, they were falling behind reruns of ‘Golden Girls’ and ‘Peppa Pig,’ so it's probably best if MSNBC doesn't look at their ratings anytime soon if they want to stay anywhere close to their happy place," Houck added. "Liberal viewers have to be emotionally, psychologically, and metaphorically distraught. They're beyond forlorn."
Houk doesn't believe leftists will return to the network anytime soon.
"The somber excuses blaming everyone from working-class women to Hispanic men to conservative media seem to be serving as only temporary balms to the scorching results. Chris Hayes and Alex Wagner have a brand to commit to where the only change the left will have to do is go even further left, so it's a stale product no one will want to listen to going forward," Houck said.
MSNBC viewer Sharon Waxman, founder of TheWrap, a Hollywood trade publication, says the media "got it wrong" and she wants to take a break from watching the news.
"If you’re like me, you haven’t turned on the news since last Tuesday when Donald Trump won the election. Personally, I can’t bear to listen to another minute of wisdom from Joy Reid, my friend Lawrence O’Donnell, or the admirable Rachel Maddow," Waxman wrote.
"I can’t do it," Waxman continued. "I’m not saying I’ll never watch or listen again. But – am I alone here? – my entire body recoils from listening to more claptrap from the same claptrapping apparatus."
Waxman was perplexed that all the attacks on Trump from his criminal convictions to his "bad acts" as well as warnings about his future "bad acts" didn't persuade the voters.
"None of it landed, it appears. Apparently we are talking to ourselves."
True dat.
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