Cable News Phenom Maddow Doubles Her Audience in a Matter of Days

[Ladywriter 7,783]

Word is spreading like wildfire about the MSNBC host's hard-hitting new show.

Rachel Maddow, a woman who does not own a television set, has done something that is virtually unheard of: she has doubled the audience for a cable news channel's 9 p.m. hour in a matter of days.

More important for her bosses at MSNBC is that "The Rachel Maddow Show," her left-leaning news and commentary program, has averaged a higher rating among 25- to 54-year-olds than "Larry King Live" on CNN for 13 of the 25 nights she has been host. While the average total audience of her program remains slightly smaller than that of Mr. King's, Ms. Maddow, 35, has made MSNBC competitive in that time slot for the first time in a decade. The channel at that hour has an average viewership of 1.7 million since she started on Sept. 8, compared with 800,000 before.

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In her first six weeks Ms. Maddow on many nights is retaining more than 90 percent of Mr. Olbermann's audience, a figure that many television executives would envy.

Encouraging the audience to stay put, the two programs often cover similar subjects most nights: on Friday, for example, Ms. Maddow appeared on "Countdown" to discuss the political maneuverings inherent in the contentions of voter registration fraud, and in her following hour she devoted two segments to the same subject.

While Mr. Olbermann watches Mr. O'Reilly's show on a monitor embedded in his desk, Ms. Maddow insists that she has never watched either Mr. King's program or the 9 p.m. program on Fox News, "Hannity & Colmes," which garners more viewers than either of the other shows.

Partly, she said, that lack of competitive interest is an effort to remain original. "I worry every day about the homogenizing forces at work in my professional life," she said, adding that it can be difficult to preserve creativity within cable's production process. It helps, she said, that she does not own a television at home.

Even so, Ms. Maddow said, she has finally committed to getting a set, primarily so that her companion can watch her program. With Ms. Maddow delivering MSNBC a record audience, it might seem that the least the network could do would be to deliver her a television.

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I like Maddow and her 'don't bullshit me just answer the question' way of interviewing.

[Zepling 100]

I prefer Maddow over Olbermann. Olbermann can get on my nerves with his rantings sometimes but it doesn't keep me from watching his show. Maddow is much more level headed and and can whip out facts like it's no one's business. She's a much better host than that rude Bill O character (whom, admittedly, I used to watch most nights during my summer break because he can be so ridiculous). Now I refuse to give him the ratings. I agree with you about her interview style. I think she is a great interviewer.

My only complaint is that now that she has her own show, she is modeling it solidly after 'Countdown.' I felt that when she guest hosted on Countdown, she was less smart-alicky and more objective. She always had an opinion but she usually told it how she saw the topic, explaining both the good and the bad. But I think since MSNBC is marketing the two shows together, it would make sense if she changed her exaggerated her style a little to match Countdown.

Do you watch Harball? Were you watching when Matthews said that Obama's speech made him "tingle?"

I also love David Gergen. I wish he'd get his own show.

[Ladywriter 7,783]

hardball not so much, something about that guys voice is like nails down a chalkboard X'D

hopefully post election Maddow can break away from Olberman follow up.