The biggest news story this week was the explosive interview of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry by Oprah Winfrey, which first aired in the United States on Mar. 7. One striking allegation by Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was that in the months leading up to Archie’s birth, a royal insider had “concerns” about “how dark his skin might be.”
The 2-hour special on CBS averaged 17.81 million viewers, according to live plus same day data from Nielsen Media Research. It also delivered a 3.8 rating/17 share in adults 25-54 and a 2.7 rating/15 share in adults 18-49. CBS posted the time period’s best non-sports deliveries in these measures since Jan. 26, 2020 (“Grammy Awards”). This was also the largest audience for a primetime entertainment special since Feb. 9, 2020’s Academy Awards on ABC.
The half-hour breakdown of “Oprah with Meghan & Harry” was, as follows:
8:00-8:30 p.m. ET/PT
Total Viewers: 17.243 million
Adults 25-54: 3.5 rating/16 share
Adults 18-49: 2.5 rating/15 share
8:30-9:00 p.m. ET/PT
Total Viewers: 17.923 million
Adults 25-54: 3.8 rating/17 share
Adults 18-49: 2.7 rating/16 share
9:00-9:30 p.m. ET/PT
Total Viewers: 17.817 million
Adults 25-54: 3.9 rating/17 share
Adults 18-49: 2.8 rating/16 share
9:30-10:00 p.m. ET/PT
Total Viewers: 18.270 million
Adults 25-54: 4.1 rating/18 share
Adults 18-49: 2.9 rating/17 share
“CBS This Morning” achieved an historic ratings milestone for its Monday, Mar. 8th edition, the day immediately following the special. It delivered 4.793 million viewers with 1.026 million of them in the 25-54 demographic, marking it as the No. 1 morning news program that day and the first time on record (since 1991, when electronic records began being collected) they’ve topped both NBC’s “Today” (3.177 million viewers / 1 million 25-54 on 3/8/21) and ABC’s “Good Morning America” (3.351 million viewers / 872,000 25-54 on 3/8/21) on a single day. “CBS This Morning” normally ranks a distant third, but its relatively more serious approach to morning news than its broadcast network competition (and, the high profile presence of anchor Gayle King) has gained more traction to CBS with viewers over the past decade than in previous decades. Considering CBS had various unsuccessful attempts at morning programming since the early 80’s, it is quite possible that Mar. 8, 2021 might have been the first time <em>ever</em> the network was tops in all key figures in the early morning.
Compared to Mar. 1, “CBS This Morning” on Mar. 8 — where Winfrey made an exclusive guest appearance to discuss her chat with Meghan and Harry as well as the presentation of never-before-seen clips from the interview — was up +74 percent in viewers and up +54 percent with adults 25-54,
The Associated Press relayed a memo that CBS News President Susan Zirinsky had sent to her staff on Mar. 10 in reaction to the impressive morning ratings news, which read “Let that sink in for a moment” and “We are covering history – and, again, we are making it,”
British broadcaster ITV televised the special on the evening of Mar. 8, drawing an average of 11.1 million viewers, according to the Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB). Viewership peaked at more than 12.4 million people, or approximately one-fifth of the population in the United Kingdom. More than 50 percent of people watching TV across the United Kingdom at night were tuned into the interview.
Like “CBS This Morning” in the U.S., ITV’s morning show — entitled “Good Morning Britain” — also benefited with Meghan and Harry coverage. Piers Morgan, the now-former co-host of the program, had disputed all of Meghan’s claims on Mar. 8, then walked off the show on Mar. 9 following weatherman Alex Beresford’s outspoken charges against Morgan and his views. The Mar. 9 edition posted 1.29 million viewers, while the competing “BBC Breakfast” drew 1.25 million. Since the 2014 launch of “Good Morning Britain”, it is the first time ITV beat BBC in the morning, for which <a href=”https://twitter.com/piersmorgan/status/1369587426918887425” target=”_top”>Morgan was glad to take credit</a>.
Over on cable news back in the States, the ranking order of the three major networks remained in tact for the second consecutive week.
CNN has continued its gradual waning in this post-inauguration era of politics. The network experienced its lowest-rated total day demo since pre-pandemic February 2020 and its lowest-rated week in primetime across both total viewers and adults 25-54 since September 2020. In addition, the NBA All-Star Game from Mar. 7 helped TNT (1.31 million) outdraw its WarnerMedia partner CNN (1.273 million) in prime time total viewers for the week. Nonetheless, CNN still managed to be the top cable news outlet in the key 25-54 demo according to total day (6 a.m. to 5:59 a.m.). It earned that mark with an extremely slim margin of just 2,000 over Fox News.
Here are the cable news averages for Mar. 1-7, 2021 — the total viewer figures were cable’s three best marks for the week in total day; three of the top four cable networks in prime time:
Total Day (Mar. 1-7 @ 6 a.m.-5:59 a.m.)
- Fox News Channel: 1.305 million viewers; 204,000 adults 25-54
- MSNBC: 1.116 million viewers; 141,000 adults 25-54
- CNN: 0.904 million viewers; 206,000 adults 25-54
Prime Time (Mar. 1-6 @ 8-11 p.m.; Mar. 7 @ 7-11 p.m.)
- Fox News Channel: 2.425 million viewers; 362,000 adults 25-54
- MSNBC: 1.942 million viewers; 258,000 adults 25-54
- CNN: 1.273 million viewers; 299,000 adults 25-54
Top 10 most-watched cable news programs (and the top CNN program and its associated rank) in total viewers:
1. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Wed. 3/3/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.483 million viewers
2. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Tue. 3/2/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.450 million viewers
3. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Thu. 3/4/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.391 million viewers
4. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Tue. 3/2/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.341 million viewers
5. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Mon. 3/1/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.323 million viewers
6. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Wed. 3/3/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.174 million viewers
7. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Thu. 3/4/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.156 million viewers
8. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Fri. 3/5/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.093 million viewers
9. Hannity (FOXNC, Tue. 3/2/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.038 million viewers
10. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Mon. 3/1/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.036 million viewers
56. Cuomo Prime Time (CNN, Wed. 3/3/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 1.714 million viewers
Top 10 cable news programs (and the top CNN program and its associated rank) among adults 25-54:
1. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Tue. 3/2/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.543 million adults 25-54
2. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Wed. 3/3/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.527 million adults 25-54
3. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Thu. 3/4/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.526 million adults 25-54
4. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Thu. 3/4/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.505 million adults 25-54
5. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Tue. 3/2/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.486 million adults 25-54
6. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Mon. 3/1/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.461 million adults 25-54
7. Hannity (FOXNC, Wed. 3/3/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.450 million adults 25-54
8. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Fri. 3/5/2021 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.447 million adults 25-54
9. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Mon. 3/1/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.437 million adults 25-54
10. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Wed. 3/3/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.434 million adults 25-54
14. Cuomo Prime Time (CNN, Wed. 3/3/2021 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.408 million adults 25-54
Source: Live+Same Day data, Nielsen Media Research
