With 2018 finally behind us, now is the time to reveal your 2018 TVNewser Challenge prediction results!
Here’s how you did:
An impressive 53 percent of you were right! Hoda Kotb was named the permanent co-anchor of Today right after the new year. At the time, Savannah Guthrie called it “the most popular decision NBC has ever made.”
The Guthrie-Kotb duo represents the all-female anchor duo in the show’s 65-year history.
Those who chose Craig Melvin (11 percent) get “honorable mention,” as the NBC News vet was named Today show news anchor on Labor Day weekend.
This is where it starts to get interesting. The 8 percent of you who chose “Other” were right! Face the Nation moderator John Dickerson was named the third CBS This Morning co-anchor in January, replacing Charlie Rose.
Bianna Golodryga was added as a fourth co-host later in the year. We’ll show some love to the 8 percent of you who thought Golodryga would join the program as well. But all in all, this was a pretty big surprise.
No, President Trump did not sit down with CNN in 2018. 75 percent of you were spot on!
Despite the growing number of Americans cutting the cord, neither Netflix, Hulu nor Amazon launched a nightly newscast in 2018. 69 percent of you were right here!
As it turns out, both are No. 1. It just depends on which measurement you use: World News Tonight finished No. 1 in viewers, but the Nightly News is No. 1 among the A25-54 demo, the group that matters most to advertisers.
Similar to the above, it just depends on which measurement you use and how you want to spin it: GMA remains No. 1 in viewers, but the Today show is No. 1 among the A25-54 demo, which is what matters most to advertisers. Today remains No. 1 in the demo for the current broadcast season to date, and has made some gains on GMA in total viewers.
Yep, Meet the Press with Chuck Todd was indeed the No. 1 Sunday public affairs show for 2018. An impressive 61 percent of you got this one right! One of the other highlights of the Sunday show in 2018 was the addition of Margaret Brennan, who took on permanent Face the Nation host duties after John Dickerson headed up I-95 to co-anchor CBS This Morning.
Not quite. Sean Hannity defeated Rachel Maddow in total viewers this year, averaging 3.25 million versus Maddow’s 2.89 million.
Hannity also finished ahead of Maddow in the demo, averaging 635,000 adults 25-54 to her 582,000. Hannity and Maddow finished No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, across all of cable news.
The 34 percent of you who chose Fox News to win the midterm election ratings race were right (sorta). There was actually a split decision here. Fox News finished No. 1 in total viewers, but CNN finished No. 1 among the A25-54 demo, the group that matters most to advertisers.
More viewers turned to the cable news networks than broadcast news for midterms coverage than to broadcast news, which goes to show the power of cable news these days.
We’re still waiting on final figures and will update this story when those arrive.
The majority of you who gave your predictions got this one right! 32 percent, to be exact. Chris Cuomo departed CNN’s morning show, New Day, and got his own hour in prime time, Cuomo Prime Time. Cuomo has given CNN a legitimate presence in the cable news’ most popular hour, as Cuomo Prime Time has become the network’s most-watched show in less than a year.
81 percent you were right! Nope, Mr. O’Reilly did not get a TV news job in 2018. He continues to have a presence in media, however, via his podcast and an active Twitter account.
OK, OK, this question was probably too easy, but Lauer’s departure from television was arguably the most important media story of 2017, and needed to be included in here in some capacity, right? More than 96 percent said of you said Matt Lauer would not get a job in TV news this year, and of course, you were right!
Thanks for playing!