Matthew Yglesias » Strategery

Sep 10th, 2008 at 2:28 pm

Strategery

MSNBC generally draws lower ratings than CNN, but Keith Olbermann is more popular than his competition on CNN and Rachel Maddow’s debut was more popular than Larry King:

It’s almost as there’s a niche to be served doing television programming that’s aimed at all these millions of people you see who have progressive political views.

Comments
27

27 Responses to “Strategery”

hey nor Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
i find it far more interesting to check in and see what lies o’reilly and hannity are telling. and when they have morris on…hoo ha…what a hoot.
E. O'Neal Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Maddow may have beaten the corpse at CNN, but Hannity and Butthead trounced her almost two-to-one.
JoshA Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Both Maddow and KO beat everyone at CNN (and HLN, of course)…quite the achievement for lowly MSNBC.
MikeT Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Thank God David Gregory’s show is the lowest of the low of any hour on all three major networks. It only comes barely ahead of MSNBC’s 11pm crap. Maybe they’ll can him soon.
brian Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
It probably has something to do with the way consumers process news.
24AheadDotCom Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Yet another post raising the question, “how many seconds exactly does MattY put into these posts anyway?”

Just because some number of people tuned in on the first night or the first week doesn’t mean that will continue. Why would it have been so difficult to figure that out?
dbt Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Yet another post raising the question, “how many seconds exactly does MattY put into these posts anyway?”

Just because some number of people tuned in on the first night or the first week doesn’t mean that will continue. Why would it have been so difficult to figure that out?

Are you retarded? How many seconds did you put into reading it? He clearly refers to both KO and Maddow. KO’s continued success combined with Maddow’s early excellent ratings bears out MY’s point that there is a substantial audience interested in progressive current affairs coverage. Sit down.
JDS Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Here’s the thing I don’t understand – the liberals who tune into this stuff have got to be in a pretty desirable demographic in terms of age and income. I mean, this is the latte drinking, volvo driving, sushi eating set that is so ridiculed by the right. And yeah, these folks don’t make up a majority of the country or even the Democratic Party, but it’s still tens of millions of people with lots of disposable income to entice advertisers. The question isn’t why is MSNBC doing this now, but why hasn’t anyone else done it yet?
Mike Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
I look at the Fox numbers and I just say to myself, “Self, we live in a right-wing plutocracy/social-conservative country. No liberal or even real moderate is going to win a nation election here for a generation. Deal with it or move.”

But then I remember the party-identification numbers, and become mute with confusion. I think rural conservatives naturally repel somewhat from party IDing, especially with the Republican brand the way it is. They’re still going to vote, though, and now they’re super amped up about it over Palin. This could be ugly, Dems. And just on Monday I was in the There’s-No-Reason-to-Panic-Whatsoever Camp.
mad6798j Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Surprising to see the repeat of Hardball is the higher rated one, and beats Dobbs.
Rodney Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
“It’s almost as there’s a niche to be served doing television programming that’s aimed at all these millions of people you see who have progressive political views.”

Yeah, wouldn’t it be funny if someone like, I don’t know, Comedy Central tried to get in on this, too??? J/K LOL
Cliffy Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Yet another post raising the question, “how many seconds exactly does MattY put into these posts anyway?”

Are you retarded?

Sigh. Why does everybody on the Internet have to be a dick all the time?

Anyway, I agree with 24Ahead in this instance the Maddow numbers aren’t analytically useful. I watched her first show to try it out, which was possibly the first time in my life I’ve watched a full hour of a talking head show, and I decided that while there were bits I liked, the format remains nothing I want to visit on a regular basis. I can’t be the only person who feels that way. Let’s let the numbers settle for a couple weeks before we crow about them.
dB Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Is there any doubt whatsoever that Gregory’s nightly celebration of John McCain and obnoxiousness is the show that should’ve gotten canned to make room for Maddow? Why is NBC under the impression that David Gregory is likeable, skilled, or unbiased?
trollhattan Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
No need to presume it’s only dyed-in-the-wool progressives watching–a lot of folks appreciate actual smart people doing the news.
Joel Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
I’m no fan of FNC, but its telling that O’Reilly has as many viewers as Maddow, Olbermann, and King combined. I don’t have the data to back this up, but my impression is that people with progressive viewpoints get their punditry from other sources (the internet and satire to name two).
E. O'Neal Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Joel, I agree. Daily Kos and Comedy Central top the charts. Which explains the sophisticated level of progressive discourse.
LaFollette Progressive Says:
September 11th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
So, based on those numbers, what possible grounds can be used to justify the fact that Glenn Beck has a nationally-televised show on a network that claims to be non-partisan?
ginsocal Says:
September 12th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
Yes! And maybe they should have a radio network, too! Oh, wait…

Was that mean?
viagra Says:
March 1st, 2009 at 12:02 pm
viagra
Very interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!
viagra Says:
March 11th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Excellent site. It was pleasant to me.
tramadol Says:
March 17th, 2009 at 3:49 am
Very interesting site. Hope it will always be alive!
tramadol
tramadol Says:
March 22nd, 2009 at 8:03 am
tramadol
Great site. Good info
viagra brand Says:
April 3rd, 2009 at 6:40 am
Excellent site. It was pleasant to me.
cheap brand pfizer viagra
cheap viagra Says:
April 8th, 2009 at 6:28 am
I bookmarked this site. Thank you for good job!
viagra

Matt Yglesias

Strategery

27 Responses to “Strategery”

Blogroll