MSNBC Beats Fox News For The Seventh Straight Time As Viewership Grows For 1/6 Hearings

For the seventh consecutive time, MSNBC’s 1/6 Committee hearing coverage finished number one over Fox News.

MSNBC provided the ratings data to PoliticusUSA:

During Tuesday afternoon’s January 6th hearing (7/12; 1pm-4pm), MSNBC was again #1 in cable news, drawing more than 3M viewers, according to Nielsen Fast Nationals. 

In addition to its #1 ranking during the hearing, MSNBC finished #1 in cable news during extended hearing coverage (12pm-4pm), dayside (10am-4pm), and total day (6am-2am).  

To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.

MSNBC had its largest A25-54 audience yet for a daytime January 6th hearing with 392K viewers (according to Fast Nationals). MSNBC’s A25-54 audience increased for the fourth consecutive hearing.

Compared to MSNBC’s daytime hearing average, MSNBC had viewership gains among both total viewers (+5%) and A25-54 (+29%).

Viewers have complained about MSNBC’s coverage of the daytime hearings, mostly because of the people that they are choosing to use to anchor. Andrea Mitchell usually ends up trending on Twitter as MSNBC viewers have made a regular habit of complaining about her role.

The primetime recap led by Rachel Maddow and the network’s primetime hosts has not drawn more viewers than Fox’s Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, but Fox News usually leads in the daytime ratings, so MSNBC’s victory is significant.

The big number is the growing viewership. More people are tuning in on MSNBC as the hearings progress, and the 29% growth among viewers age 25-54 suggests that younger viewers are starting to tune in.

MSNBC’s ratings prove that Fox News made a mistake by not televising the hearings. People are tuning in, and the bad news for Republicans is that viewership is increasing.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association