Yeah.
MSNBC is facing a staggering ratings collapse in the wake of the 2024 election, with the network’s audience shrinking by nearly half as Fox News became the only cable news outlet to show post-election growth.
According to Nielsen data, MSNBC’s total viewership has dropped by 47 percent post-election, and its critical 25-54 demographic plummeted to just 63,000 during primetime—a sharp contrast to its pre-election numbers.
The losses are particularly stark compared to rival network Fox News, which solidified its dominance as the most-watched cable news network during and after the election.
While MSNBC pulled in 644,000 viewers in primetime, Fox News soared to 3.2 million, an 86 percent year-over-year increase in total viewers. In the coveted 25-54 demographic, Fox saw a 147 percent surge, averaging 476,000 viewers.
Holy smokes, that's hilarious.
And it should be pretty embarrassing, wouldn't you think? Normally.
This slide is so precipitous and so gruesome that, as the man in the video below asks...
OMG! CNN and MSNBC ratings have lost out to Hallmark. Hallmark has more viewers than CNN or MSNBC.
— Juanita Broaddrick (@atensnut) November 24, 2024
🤣🤭😂 pic.twitter.com/wWehMvTSJv
"How do you let Hallmark Channel beat you, man?"
The channel had become such a caricature of a 'news' network even before the Trump victory broke over them like a tsunami from Hell that scarcely any sane person watched except someone who had to for work purposes.
As in everything these days, the pratfalls of MSNBC's carnival sideshow talent and subsequent ratings cliff-diving have deleteriously affected the other networks stabled in the same barn. Those more serious news properties, like CNBC and the mothership NBC News itself, have been smeared with the monkey poo flung by the undisciplined emotive performers behind the MSNBC cage bars.
There's been a bit of a slippage in brand net worth thanks to the stench of guilt by association.
Back in October, the president of Comcast, who owns parent company NBCUniversal, first started floating the idea of separating their cable networks business.
...During the company’s third-quarter earnings call with investors, Cavanagh said the company is exploring creating “a new, well-capitalized company owned by our shareholders and comprised of our strong portfolio of cable networks.”
The possible separation would not include broadcast network NBC nor streaming service Peacock, he added. NBCUniversal’s cable networks portfolio includes Bravo, E!, Syfy, Oxygen True Crime and USA Network, as well as news networks MSNBC and CNBC.
NBC's streaming service Peacock had done pretty well thanks to the Summer Olympics, but the cable services, which was true all across the industry, were bleeding subscribers who were leaving for streaming services.
NBC's cable numbers for their networks' third quarter look really bad, even as their news divisions covered the election turmoil. That should have been a boost, much like the Olympics.
It wasn't.
...The company lost 365,000 cable TV customers during the third quarter. Cable subscriber losses have been felt across the industry.
Analyst firm MoffettNathanson estimated there were 4 million traditional pay TV subscriber losses in the first six months of the year, calling it “a mindboggling total.” That includes 2.37 million losses in the first quarter, considered the worst-ever quarter for defections from the bundle.
And, even last month, Wall Street analysts were nudging Comcast to dump the networks.
...Wall Street analysts on Thursday welcomed the idea of a separation of the cable networks. In recent years the question of separating NBCUniversal from the broadband business has been raised as it’s considered to have pulled down the stock.
“Comcast profits are driven by the [broadband] side,” said Emarketer principal analyst Ross Benes. “Dividing the TV networks from the rest of the company will allow Comcast to more clearly show growth in its ISP business. A write down on the TV networks would not be surprising.”
They look prescient right about now.
As much as there is now cold, hard ratings impetus for Comcast to jettison its albatross and its sister networks - no, Donald Trump did not save MSNBCs rating this time - there's another wrinkle developing to be considered.
Donald Trump's new administration could throw a wrench in a deal to offload the properties.
A recent article in CNN implies Trump has a long memory and isn't averse to a bit of payback every now and then. They even use themselves as an example.
Oh, do tell...
The fate of MSNBC could be in Trump’s hands
Months into President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House, his Justice Department sent shockwaves through the media industry by suing to block AT&T’s takeover of CNN owner Time Warner.
The unusual challenge set off speculation that the lawsuit was driven at least in part by a desire to punish CNN for critical coverage of Trump.
...Case in point: Comcast revealed on Wednesday plans to spin off MSNBC, CNBC and other cable assets into a company that’s separate from the NBC broadcast network.
The spinoff itself won’t require approval from the DOJ or the Federal Communications Commission. But it’s widely expected the spinoff company will need to find a dance partner to make it through the world of cord-cutting. That will give Trump-appointed regulators an opportunity to damage a network he’s clashed with for many years.
“There are only two media entities that Donald Trump dislikes more than CNN. One is MSNBC and the other is NBC,” Craig Moffett, a media veteran and founder of MoffettNathanson, said in a phone interview.
SOUNDS LIKE SOMEONE HAD BEST CALL A WAAHMBULANCE
All I hear in my head is, "Why is Donald Trump always pickin' on me?"
Don't you?
...Comcast promises the new entity, for now known as SpinCo, will start with a growth trajectory and significant financial firepower. But there is already speculation it may need to bulk up to survive.
That could mean a sale to another entity or an acquisition. Either way, a future deal would likely require approval from the DOJ and other Trump regulators. (The FCC’s blessing may not be required because SpinCo won’t include the NBC broadcast network).
Jettisoned from the Comcast mothership and its stable cash flows, the spinoff cable channels will have less financial protection from the volatility of the TV industry, not to mention less of a shield from the Trump administration.
“This will be an interesting experiment,” said Frank Louthan, an analyst at Raymond James. “In theory, they should be able to survive if appropriately capitalized. But it’s unclear. It’s definitely going to be a challenge for them.”
With viewership in the tank for the freakshow that is the MSNBC line-up, holy smokes. I can't imagine it surviving intact as it stands right now. No advertisers are going to pay the top rate for a bottom-feeder network and are those egos prepared to take the paycuts to stay on camera?
What a hoot - think about who would hire them otherwise for a moment.
Where do Joe ScrewYourBorough and Miss Perpetually Pained take their vile vaudeville act? Especially now that they've kissed the orange knuckle and made everyone mad.
Joe and Mika’s Trump Trip Was a Crushing Betrayal for ‘Morning Joe’ Viewers | Commentary
The “Morning Joe” hosts shocked their MSNBC audience on Monday by revealing they flew to Mar-a-Lago to “reset communications” with Donald Trump
I still remember the moment Mika Brzezinski became a star in my eyes. It was years ago on “Morning Joe,” when she visibly recoiled at the fluff piece she was handed to read — something about Paris Hilton that had no place in a hard news segment. Future co-host and husband Joe Scarborough egged her on, knowing full well what Mika was about to do. I saw it. On live television, she tossed the script like yesterday’s garbage. My heart skipped a beat. Here was a journalist with guts, someone who valued integrity over cheap clicks.
When Mika and Joe eventually fell in love and married, I cheered. They were smart, dynamic and refreshingly unfiltered — a duo that seamlessly wove incisive political commentary with pop culture, peppered by Joe’s constant Beatles references. They weren’t just co-hosts; they were a power couple bravely redefining morning news.
Until they went to Mar-A-Lago.
All that love crumbled when they announced, visibly embarrassed and their faces dull with hidden shame, that they had flown to Florida to polish Donald Trump’s apple. A symphony of “What the f–k?” must have rung out, choreographed in unison with Mika’s smug expression after making the announcement (see photo above). She looked like the bold and brazen child who had been caught shoplifting, and slipped the stolen candy into her friend’s pocket.
OH BARF
Disillusioned and betrayed foaming-at-the-mouth progressives are like bingo addicts when confronted with an announced closure of their regularly scheduled Wednesday night church session - they never come back.
Joe and the pinched-faced blonde are done for as far as show gigs go. I can't imagine who'd pay the freight. I guarantee even barking mad Olberman ranting from his basement wouldn't rent them a corner space.
PARIAHS - WHAT A PITY
I fear that MSNBC may not survive with its 'talent' line-up as we know it now intact to its next home, wherever that is.
Hey - you know what? Maybe someone should have thought of that angle a long time ago.
I know.
DON'T TALK CRAZY TALK
So I won't.
As we fully digest @KamalaHarris NOT being president during this Thanksgiving holiday, straight men like myself can all be thankful that we don’t have to spend the next four years hearing from the dolts on @MSNBC how weirdos like @Tim_Walz and @SecondGentleman Doug Emhoff are…
— Charles Gasparino (@CGasparino) November 27, 2024
...straight men like myself can all be thankful that we don’t have to spend the next four years hearing from the dolts on @MSNBC how weirdos like @Tim_Walz and @SecondGentleman Doug Emhoff are redefining masculinity
Just color me #grateful, too.
