It has been almost two weeks since The 11th Hour with Brian Williams premiered on MSNBC. The live, half-hour program, which is airing weeknights from 11 – 11:30 p.m. through Election Day, is seven episodes into its limited run. How is the program performing to-date relative to its 11 p.m. cable news competition? Here’s a daily comparison, followed by a series to-date comparison:
The numbers for Tuesday, September 6:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSNBC | 11th Hour (11 – 11:30 p.m.) | 1.01 M | 242,000 |
| CNN | CNN Tonight (11 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.) | 649,000 | 239,000 |
| FNC | The O’Reilly Factor (11 p.m. – 12 a.m.) | 1.49 M | 350,000 |
- The September 6th premiere of The 11th Hour with Brian Williams delivered over 1 million total viewers and 242,000 A25-54. It defeated new time slot rival CNN Tonight with Don Lemon in both categories, but fell to The O’Reilly Factor repeat.
Here the numbers for Wednesday, September 7:
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| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSNBC | 11th Hour (11 p.m. – 12 a.m.) | 1.40 M | 308,000 |
| CNN | CNN Tonight (11 p.m. – 12 a.m.) | 914,000 | 311,000 |
| FNC | The O’Reilly Factor (11 p.m. – 12 a.m.) | 1.55 M | 380,000 |
- The 11th Hour hit its peak to-date on night No. 2, both in total viewers and in A25-54. The program aired for a full hour, defeating CNN Tonight in total viewers, but falling short in the key news demo. The O’Reilly Factor repeat defeated CNN and MSNBC once again.
The numbers for Thursday, September 8:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSNBC | 11th Hour (11 – 11:30 p.m.) | 1.04 M | 225,000 |
| CNN | CNN Tonight (11 p.m. – 12 a.m.) | 676,000 | 218,000 |
| FNC | The O’Reilly Factor (11 p.m. – 12 a.m.) | 1.30 M | 304,000 |
- The 11th Hour defeated CNN Tonight on Thursday, both in total viewers and in the key news demo.
The numbers for Monday, September 12:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSNBC | 11th Hour (11 – 11:30 p.m.) | 900,000 | 165,000 |
| CNN | CNN Tonight (11 p.m. – 12 a.m.) | 579,000 | 219,000 |
| FNC | The O’Reilly Factor (11 p.m. – 12 a.m.) | 1.51 M | 371,000 |
- The 11th Hour beat CNN Tonight in total viewers, but not the news demo.
Here are the numbers for Tuesday, September 13:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSNBC | 11th Hour (11 – 11:30 p.m.) | 1.21 M | 262,000 |
| CNN | CNN Tonight (11 p.m. – 12 a.m.) | 733,000 | 291,000 |
| FNC | Hannity (11 p.m. – 12 a.m.) | 1.42 M | 392,000 |
- The 11th Hour beat CNN Tonight in total viewers, but fell short in the news demo.
The numbers for Wednesday, September 14:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSNBC | 11th Hour (11 p.m. – 12 a.m.) | 1.03 M | 251,000 |
| CNN | CNN Tonight (11 p.m. – 12 a.m.) | 724,000 | 300,000 |
| FNC | The O’Reilly Factor (11 p.m. – 12 a.m.) | 1.55 M | 379,000 |
- The 11th Hour aired for a full hour on this night. Once again, the program beat CNN Tonight in total viewers, but not the news demo.
The numbers for Thursday, September 15:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSNBC | 11th Hour (11 – 11:30 p.m.) | 1.01 M | 195,000 |
| CNN | CNN Tonight (11 p.m. – 12 a.m.) | 729,000 | 264,000 |
| FNC | The O’Reilly Factor (11 p.m. – 12 a.m.) | 1.30 M | 361,000 |
- As has been the general trend so far, The 11th Hour beat CNN Tonight in total viewers, but fell short in the news demo. The O’Reilly Factor repeat continues to beat the timeslot competition.
The average totals for Tuesday, September 6 – Thursday, September 15:
| Network | Program | Total Viewers | A25-54 |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSNBC | 11th Hour | 1.09 M | 235,429 |
| CNN | CNN Tonight (11 p.m. – 12 a.m.) | 714,857 | 263,143 |
| FNC | The O’Reilly Factor/Hannity (11 p.m. – 12 a.m.) | 1.45 M | 319,003 |
- Through seven episodes, The 11th Hour with Brian Williams has averaged almost 1.1 million total viewers and more than 235,000 A25-54 viewers. It’s important to note that two of the first seven episodes aired for the full 11 p.m. hour, while the rest aired in the regularly-scheduled 11 – 11:30 p.m. slot.
- CNN Tonight averaged close to 715,000 total viewers with over 263,000 from the news demo during the same time frame. The program aired for the full 11 p.m. hour each episode.
- Repeats of The O’Reilly Factor, along with an live episode of Hannity, defeated the CNN and MSNBC competition, though the margin of victory in A25-54 was slimmer than the total viewer margin.
Lastly, here’s a look at nightly viewership purely in the news demo from 11 – 11:30 p.m:
