Media

Cohen, Manafort news earns Maddow her second most-watched show ever

by Joe Concha - 08/23/18 10:24 AM ET

Rachel Maddow’s MSNBC show on Tuesday night became her second most-watched ever following the dizzying news events earlier in the day involving the president’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

“The Rachel Maddow Show” scored 3.9 million total viewers on Tuesday night, making it the highest rated program on basic cable that day, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The show came just a few hours after Manafort was found guilty in a Virginia courtroom of eight charges of bank and tax fraud while at just about the same time Cohen pleaded guilty to charges of bank fraud, tax fraud and campaign finance law violations.

{mosads} The news was dubbed in headlines as “Trump’s Hell Hour” by Drudge Report and “The darkest day for the presidency since Watergate” by NBC News.

Maddow’s most-watched program to date was on March 14, 2017, when 4.13 million people tuned in as she shared leaked Trump tax returns in a episode that led to some mockery for being overhyped by the host.

Maddow also scored big numbers in the key 25-54 demographic that advertisers covet most, finishing as No. 1 in cable with 1.43 million viewers.

Overall, Maddow’s program with the sixth most-watched show on TV when including the broadcast networks.

Other MSNBC programs also set ratings bests, in both total viewers and in the younger demographic: “Meet the Press Daily,” “The Beat with Ari Melber,” “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” “All In with Chris Hayes,” and “The 11th Hour with Brian Williams” all captured the most viewers in each show’s respective history.

Fox News still finished on top of the three major cable news networks in total viewers and in the key 25-54 demographic in the total day category, which covers a 24-hour period between 6 a.m. and 6 a.m. the following day.

Fox also had six of the top 10 most-watched programs in cable news on Tuesday, including “Hannity,” “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” “The Five,” “Special Report with Bret Baier,” “The Ingraham Angle” and “The Story with Martha MacCallum.”

The Manafort and Cohen blockbuster news also produced big gains for CNN, which finished second in the cable news race in the 25-54 demographic in prime time, while beating Fox News in the category during the time period after the news broke.

August used to be the year’s lowest-rated month due to summer vacations and warm weather providing other options.

But for the past three years, dating back to the first GOP primary debate featuring Trump that scored more than 24 million viewers for Fox News, August has been very strong across cable news.

Tags Drudge Report Michael Cohen Paul Manafort ratings Television in the United States The Rachel Maddow Show