MSNBC on Life Support: An Unbiased View

MSNBC has been in a state of decline for as long as I can remember. In its latest iteration, the network apparently decided it hadn’t been left-wing enough during the Keith Olbermann days, so it “leaned forward”–I never understood what that meant–until it did a face-plant.

What makes this Media Post article on the troubled news network interesting is that it is non-political. MSNBC’s decline is assessed from a strictly professional standpoint: “Changes Mulled At MSNBC As Audience Yawns, Then Disappears.”

To put it as simply as possible, in the three-way competition in cable news (the competitors being Fox News Channel and CNN), MSNBC is in freefall.

Here’s some data for February, for example: For the three hours of prime time (8-11 p.m. Eastern), MSNBC’s three shows — “All in With Chris Hayes” (8 p.m.), “The Rachel Maddow Show” (9 p.m.) and “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” (10 p.m.) — had a collective average during the month of 528,000 total viewers, down 27% from February 2014.

The three shows were down even more in the news demo — averaging just 120,000 viewers 25-54, a drop of 48% from February 2014.

By contrast, top-ranked Fox News Channel had a total-viewer average in February 2015 of 1.823 million for the three hours of prime time (“The O’Reilly Factor” at 8, “The Kelly File” at 9 and “Hannity” at 10), down slightly (4%) from a year ago. Fox News prime was up 13% in the demo, however — averaging 345,000 viewers 25-54.

The article notes that MSNBC actually edged out CNN for second place, but CNN is “on the upswing:”

CNN averaged 509,000 viewers in prime time in February, up 28% from a year ago. And in 25-54s, CNN beat MSNBC with a demo average of 170,000 in Feb. ’15 — up 27% from a year earlier.

Media Post’s assessment of MSNBC’s talent is brutal:

The Politico story says various MSNBC shows are on the chopping block or will likely be moved (i.e. buried in time periods where they will do less harm), including “All in With Chris Hayes,” which Politico says is almost certain to be moved out of the 8 p.m. slot, and “Politics Nation with Al Sharpton,” which Politico says will likely be relegated to weekends.

Somehow, “Maddow” and “O’Donnell” are likely to stay put, Politico says.

I like that “somehow”! The network’s history is bleak:

The problem of declining viewership is not exactly new for MSNBC. These stories about its woes are written every couple of months. What’s most notable about the stories is that time after time, they tell the same tale: MSNBC’s ratings are declining with no end in sight.

They also usually point out the most glaring weaknesses in MSNBC’s program lineup. This time it’s “Chris Hayes.” Last time, it was “Ronan Farrow Daily,” the afternoon show hosted by the wholly inexperienced blue-eyed son of Mia Farrow. The “Farrow” show was canceled outright in February.

This is the part that is really interesting. I have long said that Fox News’s success is not just due to the fact that there are more conservatives than liberals in the U.S. In addition, the Fox on-air personalities are simply better at their jobs than the competition. Media Post agrees:

The truth is, there really are no strengths in the MSNBC lineup. Or to put it another way, no personality stands out from the MSNBC roster who you might be tempted to describe as electrifying. Whenever I tune in, I’m always struck by how dour everyone is — particularly Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell.

They’re always complaining, always with a sour face, always preaching in a way that seems designed to make the point that they’re intellectually superior to everyone else. For some reason, I never seem to catch them in lighter moments, if such moments ever occur. The thing is, the people on MSNBC never look like they’re having any fun. It’s TV — lighten up, people.

That’s contemporary liberalism in a nutshell–dour and angry, yet arrogant and self-satisfied. Who, other than a true believer, would voluntarily watch such sad stuff? MSNBC has driven away pretty much all normal viewers, and still can never quite figure out what its problem is.

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