Last week, MSNBC’s morning show “Morning Joe” topped Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends” in total viewers for the first time since 2001. The same claim holds true for MSNBC’s “dayside” (weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.) programming vs. Fox News Channel’s, if one wants another snapshot at the first-time-in-19-years claim.
“Morning Joe” averaged 1.62 million total viewers from Nov. 9 to Nov. 13. “Fox & Friends” had an average of 1.38 million total viewers over the same Monday-Friday period.
All told, the “dayside” advantage was 120,000 total viewers in MSNBC’s advantage, according to Nielsen. MSNBC averaged 1.64 million total viewers to Fox News’ 1.52 million total viewers. Those numbers represent growth for MSNBC of +30% from the week prior to the election, while the Fox News Channel lineup slipped -33% from the final week of October 2020.
The two cable news channels actually tied in the key news demo, adults 25-54, with an average of 268,000 viewers apiece across that block of seven hours (over those five days).
In primetime (8 p.m. to 11 p.m.) and in “total day” (a 24-hour period) numbers, however, Fox News Channel was ahead of MSNBC last week, with primetime personalities Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson leading the way.
Year-to-date, “Fox & Friends” is still ahead of “Morning Joe” by double-digit margins. The same is still technically true for the morning shows’ November averages thus far.
“Morning Joe” is hosted by Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist. Steve Doocy, Brian Kilmeade and Ainsley Earhardt co-host “Fox & Friends.”
Election Day 2020 was Tuesday, Nov. 3. The presidential election was called for Joe Biden on Saturday, Nov. 7.