April 2013 Ratings: MSNBC Doesn’t See Boston Ratings Bump

By Alex Weprin 

April 2013 was a big news month, but while some of MSNBC’s dayside news programs saw ratings bumps, overall the network was flat or down compared to 2012 in both primetime and total day.

The ratings for April, 2013 (Nielsen Live + Same Day data):

  • Primetime (Mon-Sun): 682K Total Viewers / 234K A25-54
  • Total Day (Mon-Sun): 406K Total Viewers / 139K A25-54

Compared to April 2012 MSNBC was down -10% in total viewers and -1% in adults 25-54 in primetime. In total day, MSNBC was down -4% in total viewers and was flat in the demo. That said, coverage of the Boston bombing (and subsequent manhunt) on CNN and the Jodi Arias trial on HLN led to the channel placing fourth in the demo in total day for the month.

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During dayside, MSNBC actually some substantial growth, with every show from 9AM-2PM up in both total and demo viewers. The most “Andrea Mitchell Reports” was up +14% in total viewers and +47% in the demo, while 12PM’s “Now” was up +16% in total viewers and +19% in the demo. “Martin Bashir” was up at 4 PM, improving +6% in total viewers and +41% in the demo.

The only MSNBC shows to be down in both total and demo viewers were “Morning Joe” (down -6% and -14%, respectively) , “PoliticsNation” at 6 PM (-15% and -11%, respectively), and 10PM, which is “The Last Word” and long-form docs (-8% and -6%, respectively).

Some shows, like “Hardball,” and “The Cycle” were down in total viewers but up in the demo.

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