MSNBC: "We (Rachael) Tamed the Giant of Larry King"

[Hamlette]

Brian Williams couldn't do it. Neither could Joe Scarborough, Rita Cosby, Dan Abrams, Ashleigh Banfield, Deborah Norville or Alan Keyes.

But MSNBC's new 9pmET show did. The Rachel Maddow show topped CNN's Larry King Live in the ad-friendly A25-54 demo during the month of October. King still wins the Total Viewer crown and FNC's Hannity & Colmes is #1 in both measurements.

"We've never had a performance like this in our history," MSNBC president Phil Griffin tells TVNewser. "We tamed the giant of Larry King."

Final numbers, which will include this past weekend, will be out tomorrow. But MSNBC is poised to beat CNN in the demo for three straight hours Monday-Friday — at 7pm (Hardball), 8pm (Countdown) and at 9. "The fact that we did it in the month leading up to the election is so satisfying for everyone who has worked here for the last two years," Griffin says.

But now the hard work begins. After the election, some viewers will return to routines that don't include watching cable news every night. "We've got to keep doing what we're doing. We have to be aggressive and we have to stay interesting," Griffin says. "The audience isn't going to stay at these levels but we can keep some of that audience. For once, we have a loyal audience."

Griffin says even he was surprised by Maddow's explosive growth at 9pmET, up 396% year-over-year. "We knew she was going to be good, but right out of the gate to beat Larry King? That was a dream too far."

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/ratings/october_ratings_msnbc_we_tamed_the_giant_of_larry_king_98723.asp

[Atman]

1. Meanwhile, how's Katie Couric doing after all this time?

When will these people wake up and smell the Nielsens? Try as they might to massage the news to keep their corporate board rooms happy, sooner or later the shareholders actually might prefer to see a some real ROI.

Oh, wait...their ROI comes indirectly, via a friendly Congress. It's a bit too much to dream that that situation, too, is about to change.

.

[DainBramaged]

2. I read mediabistro every day.

[high density]

3. "For once, we have a loyal audience"

It would be smart for them to adjust the rest of their non-primetime programming to reflect that.

[nc4bo]

5. Ain't THAT the truth. M$NBC, may I suggest you start with ditching Joe Scabbie in the a.m.? nt

[Hamlette]

9. I watch Tweety's first show and leave it on thinking maybe Race to the WH will be okay now

I can never make it more than 5 minutes. To think he was a decent reporter but is not a shill for the GOP.

Gregory is as bad as watching Fox.

but, tweety has been great lately. He's not going to be left behind.

[BrklynLiberal]

4. YES!!!!!

[Riddler]

6. I say bring Phil Donohue back at some time period of the day.

[Mid_FL_voter]

7. You Go Girl!

I have been watching Larry for umpteen years, but have switched to Rachel in the past month.

[Cha]

8. Rec'D~ This can only be good

for us, our country, and the Change we need in our corporate media.

May this be just the start of something Big!