In Brian Williams‘ third day back on the air, MSNBC won the 11 a.m. ET hour during continuous coverage of Pope Francis’ visit. The Williams-anchored MSNBC coverage averaged 194,000 viewers in the key adults 25-54 demo, compared to 189,000 for Fox News and 161,000 on CNN. The 11 a.m. ET hour featured Williams meticulously describing the Pope’s every move, from exiting the House Chamber to addressing 50,000 people from the Speaker’s balcony. (TVNewser)
MSNBC enjoyed its highest-rated day on Wednesday since the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in June, the network announced in a statement, bringing in 518,000 total viewers and 93,000 viewers in the coveted 25-54 age demographic. Wednesday’s coverage was up 15 percent in total viewers from the previous day, and up 67 percent from the previous four weeks. (HuffPost)
NBC News chairman Andy Lack admits that he’s “a paranoid guy.” “Every day is another day to get it completely wrong,” he laughed. But at the end of a week that saw MSNBC welcome Williams back as the network’s breaking news anchor after a noisy scandal and a six-month suspension, Lack allowed that he sees “encouraging signs.” Lack stressed that MSNBC is only in the early stages of its revamp; there is still a matter of settling on what will go in the 6 p.m. hour since Al Sharpton was moved to Sundays. And this week, Chuck Todd’s 5 p.m. program will bow. But, said Lack, “I would say so far so good,” adding that Williams’ return was “an important step. In my view a smaller step than others might judge. But I understand it’s a closely scrutinized step. I think Brian has gotten off to a solid start.” (THR)