Lawrence O'Donnell's First-Night Ratings 50% Higher Than Olbermann's Average

[RamboLiberal]

Lawrence O'Donnell, buoyed by curiosity about his sudden replacement of Keith Olbermann at MSNBC's 8 o'clock hour, enjoyed roughly 50 percent higher ratings Monday than Olbermann did on average.

O'Donnell's "The Last Word" scored 1.53 million viewers, 332,000 of them in the desired 25-54 demographic, according to preliminary Nielsen numbers released Tuesday. Like Olbermann, O'Donnell came in well behind Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, the perennial ratings champ of cable news. O'Reilly had more than double O'Donnell's tune-in.

O'Donnell's ratings were about 50 percent higher than Olbermann averaged in total viewers and the demo. Olbermann averaged 1.038 million total viewers and 268,000 viewers in the demo.

Of course, Monday was far from an average night -- and O'Donnell owed at least some of his audience to Olbermann fans and others curious to see how he would address his sudden shift from 10 p.m. to Olbermann's former time slot. Olbermann announced his abrupt exit from MSNBC on Friday's "Countdown."

"The Rachel Maddow Show" benefitted from O'Donnell's strong lead-in -- and, of course, people wanting to know what she would say about Olbermann, who pushed to get her her own show. She bested CNN's Piers Morgan, who, just as O'Donnell did Monday, got a boost in his debut from curiousity seekers.

http://www.thewrap.com/television/column-post/lawrence-odonnell-tops-average-olbermann-ratings-24216

On edit: 25-54/All
Hardball 251/872
O' Donnell 332/1.553
Maddow 338/1.377
Ed 207/822

Last Monday 1/17
Hardball 166/690
Countdown 369/1.265
Maddow 342/1.112
O' Donnell 291/1.015

[SoCalDem]

1. People tuned in to see what he would say about Keith

:)

[DesertFlower]

12. exactly. nt

[onehandle]

2. No slight to Keith, but I hope Lawrence's numbers stay high.

And I hope Ed kicks ass at ten.

[DesertFlower]

13. i'm not happy with ed being

on that late. i'm used to getting him at 4 pm mountain. at 8 pm i want a break from politics so i watch law and order or CSI, etc.

[JI7]

3. i don't think they will hold the ratings Olbermann got but i think they will still do k

[elleng]

6. Lawrence is very good, always has been, has had birds-eye view of govt.

Should do very well, imo.

[ananda]

4. I don't know why anybody watches O'Really? !

nt

[nolabear]

5. Meh. Curiosity factor. He's a good guy but not my cuppa.

[tularetom]

7. That should piss off NBComcast

I'd guess they want the evening lineup on MSNBC to tank so they can pull the plug on non corporate political commentary.

[slackmaster]

8. WWGPS?

http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/attachment.php?attachmentid=155154&stc=1&d=1265571289

[bluestateguy]

9. I know he is left of center, but Larry O' Donnell is one of the establishmentarians

I can only take so many titillating old war stories about his days as a Senate Finance Committee staffer (BO-Ring!)

[upi402]

17. He slams liberals as extreme and inconsequential

and we really need more of THAT

[pacalo]

10. At least the curiosity factor was mentioned. I can't see anyone doing *better* than

Keith under normal circumstances.

[90-percent]

11. Larry's good ratings

I am still in shock to have Keith wrenched from my life so horribly, so my main interest is what they would say about Keith. Lawrence was respectful and appreciative, and, my God, Keith nurtured so many of the greats on MSNBC. Keith is so generous he even gave Frank "TV's Frank" Coniff two live guest spots to riff some live TV humor. Looks like I will be driven off the cable and on to the internet if I want to enjoy good video journalism.

Does it seem like MAIN STREAM RIGHT WING PROPAGANDA means more to the people running corporate communications companies than profits. Keith tapped a market that was no where else on the TV landscape.

It is remarkable that what Keith is can be so marginalized. He is doing more to safeguard the quality of our democracy via a free press than anybody else in media. For those of us left that still fashion ourselves CRITICAL THINKERS that don't like the totalitarian vibe of our current state. I need somebody to help me yet again try to understand the magnitude of human horror wreaked upon future generations of Americans, when some psycho bitch from hell gets themselves elected and doing the full monty on internment camps and putting people in prison for exercising the rights under the Constitution.

-90% Jimmy

[xchrom]

14. Bland = important in America. Nt

[Leopolds Ghost]

15. O'Donnell replaced Keith because he's predictable. Like Washington week In Review

Watch Gwen Ifill if you want to know what ruling class media insiders REALLY think about the news. They often talk with Gwen as if no one (especially no one on the left or right) was listening, just people in the "media class".

[Forkboy]

16. "buoyed by curiosity about his sudden replacement"

The answer is right in your own link.