Last night MSNBC launched “All In” with Chris Hayes and CNN launched the week-long panel series “(Get To) The Point.” As usual, it is worth noting that the ratings for night one are probably not representative of where they will end up. There is plenty of time for “All In” to gain viewers or lose them, while “The Point” is still a test show, and may or may not last beyond this week.
“All In,” MSNBC’s new 8 PM show, debuted to a pretty strong 859,000 total viewers and 298,000 adults 25-54. That improved upon its “Hardball” lead-in by over 200,000 viewers. “All In” was also only 12,000 viewers behind the top-rated O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News in the demo, where former Senator Scott Brown was filling in for Bill O’Reilly.
Compared to “The Ed Show'”s Q1 average, “All In” was up +45% in the demo, and down -4% in total viewers.
CNN’s “(Get To) The Point” drew 278,000 total viewers and 80,000 a25-54 viewers. That is down about -48% from “AC360′”s Q1 average at 10 PM, and down about -54% in the demo. Of course, “The Point” isn’t a regular program (yet) and it received only 12 hours of promotion, compared to a few weeks for “All In.” Further, as “The Five” and “The Cycle” have shown, panel programs often take time to gel and develop chemistry between the hosts, and that chemistry is at the core of their success.
We will check in on both shows after the week has ended.