Hard Numbers: ‘Alex Wagner Tonight’ On The Rise, ‘Velshi’ Captures Back-To-Back High Ratings
Lester Holt - NBC Nightly News/NBC
News (Daily – Broadcast): The U.S. television program CBS Mornings continued its viewership spiral in August, hitting a new low of 1.889 million monthly viewers on August 25th. The program consistently recorded over 1.9 million throughout the first half of the year and July. Its August 25th rating marks the first time the program has fallen below the 1.9 million mark this year, slipping from its 11th place position on most watched CBS programs to 14th.
Good Morning America experienced dramatic highs and lows throughout August. The ABC program claimed its lowest viewership of the year with 2.549 million monthly viewers on its August 4th broadcast.
NBC News Daily recorded a viewership peak of the past six months on August 18th with 1.193 million monthly viewers. NBC News Daily has carefully maintained viewership levels between 1 and 1.2 million. Though its viewership fell to 1.099 on August 25th, the new hill provided great scenery, no doubt motivating the program to keep climbing to greater numbers.
Nightly News with Lester Holt experienced a dramatic climb and an even more dramatic fall in August, beginning the month with 7.712 million viewers. On August 25th, Nightly News slipped to 5.261 million. These are the highest and lowest numbers the program has recorded this year, occurring mere weeks after each other. Similarly, NBC’s The Today Show recorded 3.157 million monthly viewers on August 4th and fell to 2.513 million by its August 25th broadcast. Though it's not the lowest rating The Today Show has pulled this year, its dramatic rise and fall reflected the skid taken by Nightly News with Lester Holt.
David Muir and Deborah Roberts - 20/20/ABC
News (Weekend – Broadcast): 20/20 slowly increased its stats in August, finishing the month with an acclaimed 2.130 million monthly viewers.
Alex Wagner - Alex Wanger Tonight/MSNBC
News & Politics (Daily – Cable): MSNBC’s Alex Wagner Tonight flaunted a new trend this month. The program has been hanging tight around the 1 million viewer mark since mid-June (consistently over and under). As August rolled in Alex Wagner Tonight pulled itself up, consistently attracting just over and under 1.5 million monthly viewers with each airing. The program finished the month with 1.416 million viewers on August 27th.
Laura Coates Live started August with a shocking drop in numbers, though it recovered its viewership through the end of the month. On August 1st, Laura Coates Live claimed 784,000 monthly viewers and promptly dropped to 369,000 with its August 2nd broadcast. The decline was sudden, but the CNN program quickly recovered with the next two broadcasts and climbed back to 583,000 by August 6th. Its numbers remained over 500,000 for the remainder of the month.
Fox News’s Outnumbered recorded its lowest of the year on August 18th with 1.218 million monthly viewers. It's the first time the program has fallen below the 1.4 million mark this year. The ReidOut displayed a steady viewer base throughout August, finishing the month with 1.560 million monthly viewers.
Jonathan Capehart - The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart/MSNBC
News & Politics (Weekend – Cable): Ayman experienced a deft increase in viewership this August. After ratings remained around 400,000 monthly viewers since April, the program broke out and secured over 600,000 for all but one airing in August. Ayman earned 821,000 monthly viewers for its August 10th episode, marking the most views it received on an episode since receiving 846,000 on April 13th.
CNN’s Inside Politics earned a rating of 525,000 monthly viewers for its August 18th episode. Politics Nation with Al Sharpton secured 840,000 monthly viewers for its August 18th episode. Its previous highest record of the year was obtained last month when the MSNBC program claimed 746,000 on July 27th.
The Saturday Show with Jonathan Capehart received 654,000 monthly viewers in August, rallying over 600,000 viewers for each episode aired throughout the month. The Sunday Show with Jonathan Capehart conquered a new mountain, obtaining 772,000 monthly viewers for its August 18th episode. It is the highest rating an episode has received this year since last month when the MSNBC program pulled in 689,000 viewers for its July 28th episode. Similar to The Saturday Show, The Sunday Show also maintained over 600,000 viewers for each episode aired in August.
Velshi spiked to 960,000 viewers on August 17th with its following episode pulling in 871,000 on August 18th. This marks the greatest viewership the program has obtained since February when it achieved over 1 million views.
