MSNBC's primetime show bleeds viewers as Rachel Maddow steps away
Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki failed to keep a grip on Rachel Maddow's 9 p.m. MSNBC audience when the network began its revamped primetime lineup on May 6, data from Nielsen Media Research showed.
Maddow's show ran Monday through Friday during President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office, then tapered off to just Mondays. Psaki filled the Tuesday through Friday slots, where she managed to lose just about half of Maddow's nightly viewers, Fox News reported.
"The Briefing with Jen Psaki" averaged 971,000 viewers throughout the month, "down from Maddow’s 1.89 million ratings this year—representing a 47 percent drop—and even worse than former time slot occupant Alex Wagner’s 1.3 million average from 2022 to January 2025, according to Nielsen ratings obtained by Fox News."
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The Daily Beast noted that "Psaki’s launch coincided with a number of sporting events throughout the month, including the NBA playoffs—where game six of the New York Knicks-Indiana Pacers series drew 8.12 million viewers."
Although Psaki’s salary is not publicly known, the report suggested it was "far less than the reported $25 million per year the network is currently paying Maddow to host her show just once a week."
Also part of the revamped lineup, "The Weeknight," featuring anchors Symone Sanders-Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez, replaced Joy Reid's 7 p.m. show "The ReidOut."
The report added that "only one of MSNBC’s new shows is outdrawing its timeslot predecessor, as 'The Weekend' with Jonathan Capehart, Eugene Daniels, and Jackie Alemany is up 24% in total viewers and 29% among the demo since launching on May 3."