The Psaki bomb has turned into a major Psaki dud for left-leaning MSNBC.
The embattled cable news network â which is expected to be spun off by parent company Comcast later this year â has seen ratings plunge nearly 50% in the pivotal 9 p.m. slot since Jen Psaki took over full-time hosting duties from Rachel Maddow last month.
The 46-year-old anchor, who made a name for herself with her quick-witted âPsaki bombsâ while serving as former President Joe Bidenâs press secretary â but has since insisted she never saw signs of his mental decline â has drawn an average of 971,000 viewers since âThe Briefing with Jen Psakiâ debuted on May 6 through May 28, according to the latest Nielsen ratings.
Thatâs a staggering 47% falloff from the eyeballs attracted by Maddow and Alex Wagner in the timeslot.
The drop-off is even more pronounced in the critical 25â54 age demographic prized by advertisers, where she drew just 78,000 viewers â a 52% decline compared to the 161,000 that Maddow and Wagner drew during their shows this year.
âSheâs kinda boring. Sheâs not a great broadcaster,â one media insider told The Post on Tuesday
Maddow, the networkâs highest paid star, returned to the anchor chair five days a week for the first 100 days of the Trump administration before going back to hosting her show just on Mondays at the beginning of last month. Wagner was pushed out for Psaki.
Psakiâs promotion from her weekend gig was part of a sweeping lineup shakeup at MSNBC aimed at injecting new energy into prime time and broadening its appeal.
But early signs suggest the overhaul by new MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler, who took over from Rashida Jones in January, has backfired.
Kutler quickly canceled Joy Reidâs program âThe ReidOutâ and replaced it with âThe Weeknight,â a rip-off of Foxâs ratings champ âThe Five.â
The roundtable show, co-hosted by Symone Sanders-Townsend, Alicia Menendez and Michael Steele, averaged 772,000 viewers in May â a 19% drop from the 955,000 âThe ReidOutâ pulled in during its final month in February, according to Nielsen.
Among the 25â54 demographic, the new crew averaged just 72,000 viewers, down 20% from what the Trump-bashing Reid garnered.
Overall in primetime for May, MSNBC averaged 877,000 viewers, down 24% from the rest of the year. In the 25â54 demo, MSNBC averaged 73,000 viewers in primetime, a 34% drop.
Across the full broadcast day last month, the network drew 545,000 viewers, down 33%, and just 49,000 in the key demo, a 41% decline.
MSNBC declined to comment.
âIn May, four months into the presidency, survey data shows rising news fatigue across all networks,â said a source close to the situation.
The source added that Psaki has shown some signs of progress despite the overall downturn.
ââThe Briefingâ builds on the audience of its 8 p.m. lead-in, which is a major improvement,â the insider said.
News fatigue has apparently not affected Fox Newsâ stranglehold in the ratings race. The conservative network, which shares common ownership with The Post, averaged 2.46 million viewers in prime time â up 23% â and 1.56 million across total day programming.
In the demo, Fox pulled 262,000 viewers in prime time (up 32%) and 180,000 during the day (up 22%), according to Nielsen.
Last-place CNN, meanwhile, continued to limp along, averaging just 426,000 total primetime viewers and 353,000 across the day, down 18% and 24%, respectively.
The most-watched cable news show in May was Fox Newsâ âThe Fiveâ with 3.77 million viewers, followed by âJesse Watters Primetimeâ at 3.23 million. Fox also dominated with other top programs including âGutfield!â (2.92 million), âSpecial Report with Brett Baierâ (2.81 million), and âHannityâ (2.73 million), who competes against Psaki.
âSince the election, Fox News has delivered the top 1,013 cable news telecasts,â the company said during an earnings call last month.
âThis combination of an engaged audience and a dynamic news cycle led to record audience share in the quarter.â
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