This year’s bad news for MSNBC has only gotten worse. The “Lean Forward” network has struggled in the ratings since the Boston Marathon bombings exposed the network’s glaring weakness when it comes to news gathering. MSNBC had hoped to turn that around by going all-in on with the Zimmerman trial, but it obviously didn’t work.
Compared to last year in July, MSNBC was down -12% in total viewers and -4% in the 25-54 demo.
“Morning Joe” lost -4% of its viewers, -8% in the 25 to 54 demo. Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow, and Lawrence O’Donnell all took huge hits over last year. Hayes is down -27%, O’Donnell’s down -29%, and Maddow slid -19% in total viewers. The numbers were not much better in the 25-54 demo.
The only silver lining were slight viewer increases for Martin Bashir, Chris Matthews, and “The Cycle.”
In total day, MSNBC is now in fourth place, behind Fox News, CNN, and HLN.
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