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“The Source With Kaitlan Collins” debuted as CNN’s second most-watched primetime show on Monday evening.
As the former “CNN This Morning” co-host anchored the 9 p.m. timeslot with her new show for the first time, “The Source With Kaitlan Collins” drew in 540,000 total viewers on average, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day figures, behind only “Anderson Cooper 360” in terms of total viewership for CNN, which brought in 600,000 total viewers at 8 p.m. Collins’ total viewership also exceeded the subsequent primetime slots filled by “CNN Primetime” at 10 p.m. and “CNN Tonight” at 11 p.m., which drew in 494,000 viewers and 378,000 viewers, respectively.
The trend continued in the key cable demographic of adults ages 25-54, as Collins secured the No. 2 demo viewership of CNN’s Monday primetime lineup with 83,000 viewers in the demo, behind Cooper’s demo viewership of 107,000. “CNN Primetime” drew in 77,000 viewers in the demo and “CNN Tonight” brought in 76,000 viewers in the demo, trailing behind Collins.
Across cable news networks, formidable opponents in the 9 p.m. hour outnumbered Collins’ debut as MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” drew in an audience of 2.41 million total viewers and Fox News’ Hannity brought in 1.95 million total viewers. The same can be said for the demo, as Maddow took the No. 1 spot among cable news networks with 231,000 viewers in the demo while Hannity came in second place with 188,000 viewers in the demo.
Within all of primetime, Collins’ debut did little to move the needle against its competitors, as MSNBC led the night in terms of total viewership with 1.77 million viewers, while Fox News came next in second place with 1.74 million viewers, and CNN trailed behind with 545,000 viewers. In the demo, Fox News scored 182,000 viewers with MSNBC coming in a close second place with 180,000 viewers while CNN drew in 89,000 viewers in the demo.
While “The Source With Kaitlan Collins” made its official debut Monday night, Collins has been hosting the 9 p.m. hour since June 5. From June 5 through June 30, Collins averaged 702,000 total viewers and 152,000 viewers in the demo in the timeslot, figures higher than her Monday debut. During this month, Collins also contributed to the network’s coverage of Donald Trump’s indictment on June 13. When including the figures from the special coverage, Collins’ average bumped up to 719,000 total viewers and 158,000 viewers in the demo, both of which exceed CNN’s year-to-date averages.
