MSNBC finished No. 1 in all of cable for the entire day on Wednesday for the first time in its history.
The left-leaning cable network, capitalizing on the tumult surrounding President Donald Trump's response to violence in Charlottesville, Va., averaged 1,519,000 viewers from 6 A.M. to 2 A.M., the entire sales day, beating out second-place Fox News (1,498,000), and third-place Nickelodeon (1,174,000). CNN finished fourth at 1,129,000, according to Nielsen data.
It's a milestone for MSNBC, which was adrift in 2015 after a swarm of show cancellations, questions about the network's direction, and poor viewership. Adweek noted it only averaged 579,000 primetime viewers in Q4 of 2015.
.@MSNBC, surging as Trump goes off rails, was most-watched cable net for full day on Wed.--1st time in its history. https://t.co/IWoWpoLNnc
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) August 18, 2017
MSNBC finished first in the 25-to-54 demographic Wednesday from 7 P.M. to 2 A.M., 8 P.M. to 11 P.M., 9 P.M. to 1 A.M., and "The Rachel Maddow Show" was the No. 1 cable news show in the demo.
In total viewers, MSNBC also finished No. 1 in primetime, and Maddow (3,247,000) and "The Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell" (2,542,000) were the top two cable shows in total audience.
Maddow and O'Donnell finished No. 6 and No. 10 in all of U.S. television on Wednesday with their high numbers.
