Ronan Farrow caught a lot of grief during his anchor run at MSNBC, and was blamed time and again for the left-wing network’s afternoon ratings collapse. After a little more than a year on the air, Farrow and Joy Reid both lost their shows and were replaced by a two-hour block of Thomas Roberts. After just a few months, Farrow should feel vindicated. Roberts’s ratings are a full 16% below Farrow’s:
Since the launch of MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts, MSNBC has averaged just 38,000 viewers 25-54 in the 1 p.m. -3 p.m. ET timeslot, which represents a 16% decline from the last six months of Ronan Farrow Daily. The drop is even deeper than MSNBC’s overall dip of 12% compared to the same time period, but no better or worse than other MSNBC daytime shows. Ronan Farrow — and you — may be interested to know that on Friday, MSNBC Live drew just 10,000 viewers in the demo.
One of the problems with Roberts is that he and MSNBC have tried to sell his two afternoon hours as straight news, which is absurd. Roberts is a dedicated leftist and his two hour news block is as dedicated to leftism as the rest of MSNBC.
To his credit, Farrow was up front about his politics or agenda. Unlike Roberts, he at least didn’t lie to his audience.
I said at the time of his cancellation that Farrow was trying some interesting ideas on his show and deserved another year to find an audience.
Why Phil Griffin refuses to listen to me is anybody’s guess.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.