After nearly two weeks away, Rachel Maddow returned to her popular nightly MSNBC show on Thursday, Nov. 19. Back on Nov. 6, she notified the audience that she herself was headed into quarantine after being in close contact with someone who contracted the coronavirus. Upon her Nov. 19 return, Maddow revealed that the close contact who had gotten seriously ill from COVID-19 was her longtime partner Susan Mikula.
The Nov. 19 edition of “The Rachel Maddow Show” drew 3.78 million viewers. This was 13 percent above the program’s weeknight average for Nov. 16-20 (3.33 million) and was its most-watched edition since the Friday of Election Week on Nov. 6 (4.97 million). It also bested its direct competition within the hour, “Hannity” from Fox News Channel, in both total viewers (3.78 million vs. 3.7 million) and adults 25-54 (631,000 vs. 615,000) — as an aside, CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” at 9 p.m. actually topped both shows among 25-54 (745,000 viewers within the demo).
While Maddow’s return was the main highlight of MSNBC’s Nov. 19th night, the network had also featured a one-hour special at 10 p.m. entitled “A Promised Land: A Conversation with Barack Obama” (2.95 million viewers), which focused on the topics discussed in the 44th U.S. President’s recently-released bestselling memoir. For the 8-11 p.m. prime time period on Thursday Nov. 19, MSNBC averaged 3.06 million viewers, 680,000 more than its broadcast network parent network NBC with a lineup of comedy “Superstore” (one original episode followed by a repeat), detective drama “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and newsmagazine “Dateline NBC.”
For the week ending Nov. 22, 2020, according to total day data (from 6 a.m. to 5:59 a.m. each day), the three major cable news networks were all within a margin of just 94,000 viewers with each posting healthy averages — a reflection they’re still basking in post-election news coverage. After a two-week stint in the runner-up cable news spot, Fox News Channel returned as most-watched with an average of 1.5 million viewers. CNN slipped to 1.42 million followed by MSNBC at 1.4 million.
In the key demo of adults 25-54, CNN remained as leader averaging 353,000 viewers within the demo; Fox News drew 253,000 and MSNBC 220,000.
Top 10 most-watched cable news programs (and the top CNN program with associated rank) in total viewers:
1. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Thu. 11/19/2020 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 4.618 million viewers
2. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Wed. 11/18/2020 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 4.490 million viewers
3. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Mon. 11/16/2020 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 4.261 million viewers
4. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Tue. 11/17/2020 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 4.248 million viewers
5. Hannity (FOXNC, Wed. 11/18/2020 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.845 million viewers
6. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Thu. 11/19/2020 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.784 million viewers
7. Hannity (FOXNC, Thu. 11/19/2020 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.705 million viewers
8. Hannity (FOXNC, Mon. 11/16/2020 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.670 million viewers
9. Hannity (FOXNC, Tue. 11/17/2020 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.664 million viewers
10. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Fri. 11/20/2020 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.618 million viewers
28. Cuomo Prime Time (CNN, Thu. 11/19/2020 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 2.819 million viewers
Top 10 cable news programs (and the top MSNBC program with associated rank) among adults 25-54:
1. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Thu. 11/19/2020 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.796 million adults 25-54
2. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Mon. 11/16/2020 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.795 million adults 25-54
3. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Wed. 11/18/2020 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.769 million adults 25-54
4. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Tue. 11/17/2020 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.745 million adults 25-54
5. Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN, Thu. 11/19/2020 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.745 million adults 25-54
6. Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN, Tue. 11/17/2020 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.715 million adults 25-54
7. Cuomo Prime Time (CNN, Tue. 11/17/2020 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.710 million adults 25-54
8. Cuomo Prime Time (CNN, Wed. 11/18/2020 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.690 million adults 25-54
9. Cuomo Prime Time (CNN, Thu. 11/19/2020 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.671 million adults 25-54
10. Hannity (FOXNC, Wed. 11/18/2020 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.663 million adults 25-54
14. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Thu. 11/19/2020 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.631 million adults 25-54
