MSNBC's Ratings PLUMMET! Alex Wagner Fails To Bring In Viewers, Marking Her Worst Month Since Replacing Rachel Maddow
Nov. 4 2022, Published 2:30 p.m. ET
Alex Wagner is no Rachel Maddow, and her ratings prove it. The MSNBC star, who took over for Maddow on August 16, had the worst month of her career since taking the seat, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The Alex Wagner Tonight host, 44, had a rough October, with RadarOnline.com discovering that her ratings slumped to 1.425 million viewers and 134,000 in the 25-54 demo, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Wagner fell dramatically behind her 9 PM competition Hannity over at Fox News.
The Sean Hannity-run show scored nearly double for the same timeframe, bringing in over 2.7 million viewers. He also blew Wagner out of the water in the 25-54 demo, bringing in 344,000 viewers.
While Wagner failed for the month, she didn't do as badly as struggling CNN, whose CNN Tonight with Jake Tapper averaged just 691,000 viewers and 153,000 in the same demo.
Wagner's rating dive comes just weeks after insiders divulged that MSNBC insiders have been privately questioning if Alex is a good fit to replace the popular Maddow, who has moved her show to once a week.
They aren't the only ones unsure of the move.
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- MSNBC Shake-Up! Alex Wagner Set To Take Over For Rachel Maddow
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MSNBC's President Rashida Jones and NBC News Group Chairman Cesar Conde are said to be regretting their decision to name Wagner as Maddow's replacement.
Despite the possibly hasty decision, executives still hosted a dinner to celebrate Wagner's promotion, which reportedly didn't go well with naysayers.
While sources claimed that Jones put on a happy face, others were left wondering why, exactly, they were celebrating at all.
Wagner's weak ratings draw gives already struggling CNN the opportunity to bypass MSNBC during the golden primetime hour.
As this outlet exclusively reported, Tapper's primetime debut was highly-promoted for an October 10 launch — but it didn't happen until the next night because CNN was nervous about putting him up against his fierce competitor, MSNBC's rating queen Maddow.
However, with The Rachel Maddow Show moving solely to Monday nights and Wagner failing to uphold ratings, Tapper has the opportunity to scratch his way to second place.