NBC NEWS and MSNBC Top All Other Networks for Comey's Senate Testimony
By: A.A. Cristi Jun. 09, 2017
More Americans turned to NBC News and MSNBC combined for coverage of former F.B.I. Director James Comey's testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee than any other broadcast or cable television network. According to Nielsen Media Research data, the two networks averaged 5.5 million total viewers during coverage of the speech, including an average of 1.5 million viewers in the key news demographic of A25-54. NBC News ranked #1 among broadcast networks in the demo, averaging 859,000 A25-54 viewers from 10 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. ET.
More A25-54 viewers turned to MSNBC than Fox News for special live coverage of Comey's testimony. According to Nielsen, MSNBC delivered 633,000 viewers A25-54 from 10 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. ET, outperforming Fox News by +33,000 viewers A25-54.
MSNBC primetime programming (8-11p.m.) beat Fox News and CNN in the A25-54 demographic for post-testimony analysis of the hearing on Thursday night. MSNBC prime averaged 757,000 viewers A25-54 (vs. FOX News' 667,000 and CNN's 601,000).
"The Rachel Maddow Show" at 9pm finished as the #1 cable news show in A25-54 with 980,000 viewers. "Maddow" was also #1 in total viewers during the 9pm time period with 3.45 million total viewers, outperforming Fox News by +445,000 total viewers.
"The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" at 10 p.m. was the #2 cable news show in A25-54 with 755,000 viewers.
"Morning Joe" kicked off the special coverage from 6-9 a.m. ET and beat CNN in A25-54 (288,000 vs. CNN's 275,000) and in total viewers (1.2 million vs. CNN's 718,000). Brian Williams and Nicolle Wallace, along with a slate of expert guests, anchored MSNBC's coverage of the hearing beginning at 9 a.m. Special programming continued throughout the day on MSNBC.
MSNBC dayside from 9am to 5pm averaged 2.12 million total viewers, the highest total viewer rating ever for the time period and the 2nd time it delivered more than 2 million viewers. Dayside averaged 487,000 viewers A25-54, the highest rating since President Obama's inauguration (1/20/09).
JUNE 8, 2017:
| Total Viewers | A25-54 Rating | A25-54 Viewers | A18-49 Rating | A18-49 Viewers | |
| NBC | 2,723 | 0.71 | 859 | 0.53 | 685 |
| CBS | 3,286 | 0.65 | 784 | 0.46 | 595 |
| ABC | 3,295 | 0.71 | 854 | 0.54 | 695 |
10 a.m. ET - 12:45 p.m. ET
| Total Viewers | A25-54 Rating | A25-54 Viewers | A18-49 Rating | A18-49 Viewers | |
| MSNBC | 2,737 | 0.53 | 633 | 0.39 | 506 |
| CNN | 3,059 | 0.85 | 1,017 | 0.67 | 860 |
| FNC | 3,104 | 0.50 | 600 | 0.32 | 409 |
A25-54
| Average of ImpsRd | Network | |||
| Daypart | MSNBC | CNN | FXNC | |
| AM News 6-9a | 288 | 275 | 326 | |
| Comey-Tmy 10a-1245p | 633 | 1,017 | 600 | |
| 8-11p | 757 | 601 | 667 |
Total Viewers
| Average of ImpsRd | Network | ||
| Daypart | MSNBC | CNN | FXNC |
| AM News 6-9a | 1,192 | 718 | 1,566 |
| Comey-Tmy 10a-1245p | 2,737 | 3,059 | 3,104 |
| 8-11p | 2,757 | 1,705 | 3,181 |
Image courtesy of NBC.
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