MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Beats Fox News' Hannity As "Most Watched Cable News Host"

The cable news wars are heating up as MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show beat Fox News's Hannity with a best-ever 3.058 million viewers compared to Hannity's 3 million.

Even better news for MSNBC - Maddow scored an average 671K viewers in the much-prized 25-54 demographic in the 9PM ET slot. Hannity averaged only 616K viewers.

Third place CNN garnered only 382K viewers in the 25-54 demo.

MSNBC was the only cable news network to increase viewership over the same period in 2017. MSNBC saw a 30% increase while both CNN and Fox News saw declines in their audience.

MSNBC's prime lineup was up 8% from March 2017 numbers, while both Fox (down 18%) and CNN (down 16%) saw big drop-offs when accounting for year-over-year.

I think it's undeniable that "The Resistance" remains strong since Trump's inauguration and that accounts for much of the increased appetite for MSNBC's programming.

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MSNBC Wins Cable News War For First Time Ever

Via The Hill:

MSNBC finished first in the key 25-54 demographic and in total viewers against its cable news rivals last week for the first time in its 21-year existence, according to Nielsen Research.

Overall, MSNBC finished second in all of basic cable, only falling to TNT, which aired several NBA playoff games.

Fox News finished third in primetime for the first time in nearly 17 years.

For the week of May 15, MSNBC's weekday prime averaged 2.440 million total viewers, with Fox second with 2.405 million and CNN third with 1.649 million.

For adults aged 25-54, MSNBC averaged 611,000 viewers. CNN finished second with 589,000 and Fox third with 497,000.

The big winners?

"The Rachel Maddow Show" at 9PM was #1 most-watched nonsports program for the week in all of basic cable.

The 8PM time slot was won by CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360."

The third place winner for the week was Lawrence O'Donnell at 10PM with "The Last Word." Even with his strong ratings, though, O'Donnell's contract is set to expire June 4 and is rumored to be on the chopping block.

The last time Fox News finished in 3rd place for the week (Monday-Friday) goes all the way back to June of 2000.