July #’s: CNN’s Zahn Definitely #2 At 8pm

MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann seemed comfortably in third place after a few months at #2 at 8pm, TVNewser noted last week. In the demo, MSNBC beat CNN’s Paula Zahn earlier this year, but that trend is apparently coming to an end. CNN has topped MSNBC at 8pm in May, June, and July. Most recently, Zahn averaged 228,000 demo viewers in July while Olbermann had 161,000. (Zahn was up 22 percent versus July 2005; Olbermann was up 39 percent.)

CNN says MSNBC’s closest competition is Headline News, not the mother network. In July, Nancy Grace beat MSNBC in total viewers, but had 22,000 fewer demo viewers than Countdown. Olbermann is in third place in the demo and fourth place in total viewers…