April marked a small milestone for HLN’s “Morning Express with Robin Meade” in the cable morning show race.
Though still trailing the morning leader, FNC’s “Fox & Friends,” by 131,000 demo viewers (and a considerable 653K total viewers), “Morning Express” has now finished ahead of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” for a full year in the A25-54 demo. It’s also finished ahead of CNN’s “American Morning” consistently. In April, “Morning Express” averaged 316,000 total viewers with 188,000 in the demo and was one of the few shows to grow in the demo year-to-year. (More here)
HLN’s VP Bill Galvin tells TVNewser the program’s mission is, as he puts it, “news in the fast lane,” which is the primary focus. The show launched in 2005 as “Robin & Company” but was renamed “Morning Express with Robin Meade” in 2007.
“There’s nothing else like it in the morning,” Galvin tells us explaining his thoughts on the show’s recent success. “It’s fast-paced, far-reaching and fun, thanks to Robin and the team. It fills a need and it delivers every day.”
Galvin also cited HLN’s news in the morning/opinion in the evening strategy as a reason for Express’s success.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the family, CNN’s “American Morning” has struggled, down significantly year-to-year and drawing its lowest ever monthly average in April. (More here.