Weekly talk show “Real Time with Bill Maher” began its 20th season on HBO back on Jan. 21 at 10 p.m. ET. His guests included Yale University professor Timothy Snyder, podcast host Bari Weiss and Bronx congressional member Rep. Ritchie Torres. Its initial telecast drew 867,000 total viewers and 187,000 adults 25-54; including the three re-airings on HBO during the weekend of Jan. 21-23, “Real Time” combined for 1.226 million (in total) and 277,000 adults 25-54.
Its 19th season premiere fared way better, initially drawing 1.53 million total viewers; its four-telecast weekend cume of 1.97 million. However, the comparisons to that time must come along with a large caveat. Those airdates were Jan. 15-17, 2021 — less than two weeks following the insurrection at the Capitol and mere days prior to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris being sworn in to office.
The recent figures for “Real Time” were on-par with those for its end-of-season editions: for Nov. 12-14, initial telecast drew 890,000 viewers / four-airing cume of 1.21 million; and, for Nov. 19-21, initial telecast drew 760,000 viewers / four-airing cume of 1.07 million.
The Friday night original edition of “Real Time” routinely achieves HBO’s most-watched weekly single telecast mark (based on live plus same day data) for the vast majority of a calendar year. The week ending Jan. 23 was no different. The week’s runner-up HBO telecast, in total viewers: the pay cable network premiere of the Bob Odenkirk action movie “Nobody” (380,000 viewers) from Jan. 22. The week’s runner-up HBO telecast, in adults 25-54: an original episode of teen drama “Euphoria” starring Emmy winner Zendaya (134,000 adults 25-54) from Jan. 23.
Additionally, President Joe Biden commemorated his time in the White House on Jan. 19, the eve of the first anniversary of his inauguration, with a lengthy press conference detailing the issues he faced and continues to face. So many of those issues, in fact, he spent two hours fielding questions from reporters and speaking to the public.
Biden’s current overall approval numbers are at a subpar 42 percent. While the economy is recovering, rising inflation and a limited supply of goods — of course, attributed to the ongoing coronavirus and its Omicron variant — have tampered the positive vibes.
Another important factor of Americans’ critical sentiment of a sitting President, especially a Democratic one (as seen during the years of Barack Obama), is the prominence of Fox News Channel — an aspect Biden attempted to downplay during his presser. Fox’s audience continues to attract still-engaged and active voters, more likely of a conservative nature. And it propels the outlet to not only dominate the world of cable news but, in addition, the entire cable television landscape. For the entire week ending Jan. 23, that standing was no different; Fox News averaged 1.513 million viewers per minute, according to Nielsen Media Research — more than doubling its nearest cable competitor, ESPN (0.699 million) during a week where the sports outlet had aired an NFL playoff game (between the Arizona Cardinals and the Los Angeles Rams on Jan. 17).
As for Biden’s presser, it aired from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. ET on Jan. 19. Fox News Channel was the nation’s top outlet covering it, averaging 3.78 million total viewers with 594,000 from the key 25-54 demographic. Similar to the ratings of most other news coverage in the past year, the cable news rankings had MSNBC as the distant runner-up among total viewers (1.34 million to CNN’s 1.04 million) while CNN was a distant second in adults 25-54 (188,000 to MSNBC’s 168,000). The second hour of Biden’s press conference (5-6 p.m. ET) on Fox News Channel and CNN were the most-watched hours of the week for each respective outlet in total viewers, figures listed at article’s end).
Cable news averages for January 17-23, 2022:
Total Day (January 17-23 @ 6 a.m.-5:59 a.m.)
- Fox News Channel: 1.513 million viewers; 243,000 adults 25-54
- MSNBC: 0.670 million viewers; 78,000 adults 25-54
- CNN: 0.474 million viewers; 96,000 adults 25-54
- HLN: 0.199 million viewers; 63,000 adults 25-54
- The Weather Channel: 0.168 million viewers; 27,000 adults 25-54
- CNBC: 0.147 million viewers; 37,000 adults 25-54
- Newsmax: 0.123 million viewers; 19,000 adults 25-54
- Fox Business Network: 0.104 million viewers; 11,000 adults 25-54
Prime Time (January 17-22 @ 8-11 p.m.; January 23 @ 7-11 p.m.)
- Fox News Channel: 2.427 million viewers; 356,000 adults 25-54
- MSNBC: 1.187 million viewers; 134,000 adults 25-54
- CNN: 0.578 million viewers; 129,000 adults 25-54
- CNBC: 0.213 million viewers; 64,000 adults 25-54
- HLN: 0.205 million viewers; 65,000 adults 25-54
- The Weather Channel: 0.185 million viewers; 41,000 adults 25-54
- Newsmax: 0.151 million viewers; 27,000 adults 25-54
- Fox Business Network: 0.054 million viewers; 11,000 adults 25-54
Top 10 most-watched cable news programs (and the top MSNBC and CNN programs with their respective associated ranks) in total viewers:
1. The Five (FOXNC, Wed. 1/19/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 4.203 million viewers
2. The Five (FOXNC, Thu. 1/20/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.842 million viewers
3. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Wed. 1/19/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.731 million viewers
4. Hannity (FOXNC, Thu. 1/20/2022 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.664 million viewers
5. Hannity (FOXNC, Wed. 1/19/2022 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.517 million viewers
6. The Five (FOXNC, Fri. 1/21/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.515 million viewers
7. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Tue. 1/18/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.489 million viewers
8. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Thu. 1/20/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.481 million viewers
9. The Five (FOXNC, Tue. 1/18/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.439 million viewers
10. The Story (FOXNC, Wed. 1/19/2022 4:00 PM, 60 min.) 3.350 million viewers
20. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Thu. 1/20/2022 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 2.420 million viewers
120. The Lead With Jake Tapper (CNN, Wed. 1/19/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 1.056 million viewers
Top 10 cable news programs (and the top MSNBC, CNN and HLN programs with their respective associated ranks) among adults 25-54:
1. The Five (FOXNC, Wed. 1/19/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.657 million adults 25-54
2. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Wed. 1/19/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.617 million adults 25-54
3. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Thu. 1/20/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.588 million adults 25-54
4. The Five (FOXNC, Thu. 1/20/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.563 million adults 25-54
5. The Five (FOXNC, Fri. 1/21/2022 5:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.561 million adults 25-54
6. Hannity (FOXNC, Thu. 1/20/2022 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.540 million adults 25-54
7. Tucker Carlson Tonight (FOXNC, Tue. 1/18/2022 8:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.536 million adults 25-54
8. The Story (FOXNC, Wed. 1/19/2022 4:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.531 million adults 25-54
9. Special Report with Bret Baier (FOXNC, Wed. 1/19/2022 6:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.518 million adults 25-54
10. Hannity (FOXNC, Wed. 1/19/2022 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.506 million adults 25-54
32. Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC, Thu. 1/20/2022 9:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.321 million adults 25-54
73. Erin Burnett Outfront (CNN, Wed. 1/19/2022 7:00 PM, 60 min.) 0.232 million adults 25-54
116. Forensic Files “Deadly Valentine” (HLN, Tue. 1/18/2022 11:30 PM, 30 min.) 0.168 million adults 25-54
Source: Live+Same Day data, Nielsen Media Research
