MSNBC since co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski revealed they traveled to Mar-a-Lago to meet with President-elect Donald Trump on Monday, according to the latest numbers from Nielsen. Viewers are fleeing “Morning Joe'' in droves.
Scarborough and Brzezinski, who have been strong critics of President Trump, surprised their audience on Monday morning when they announced they had traveled to his Palm Beach mansion to “reopen communication” with the president-elect.
Nielsen data shows that within an hour of explaining the reason for the trip, viewers were changing channels and clicking away from MSNBC. According to Mediaite.
From 7 a.m. ET to 8 a.m. ET, “Morning Joe” viewership dropped 17% from 839,000 to 694,000.
In the 25-54 demographic, the demographic most coveted by advertisers, viewership fell 38% from 113,000 to 70,000.
Viewership rebounded slightly in the 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. time slot, reaching 775,000 viewers.
However, viewer ratings declined as the number of viewers decreased to 770,000 between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.
The Post has reached out to MSNBC for comment.
Scarborough and Brzezinski came under fire from both liberals and conservatives this week after they were criticized as hypocrites for routinely criticizing Trump and then asking him to cooperate after he was elected.
“The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart mocked the pair's rush to meet with Trump, parroting Democratic lawmakers who called him a danger to democracy and compared him to Hitler.
Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Monday slammed her “Morning Joe” co-hosts, accusing them of currying favor with President Trump to boost ratings.
ABC's “The View” co-hosts Ana Navarro and Sunny Hostin criticized the meeting, saying Scarborough and Brzezinski were not true journalists.
Hostin said she doesn't think Trump needs to “kiss the ring” to properly cover him.
An anonymous MSNBC staffer also slammed the two for showing “baseness” by holding a meeting that was “disgusting, but frankly not surprising.”
But the Morning Joe husband-and-wife team dismissed the criticism, saying: “We were here to report on him and, hopefully, we can all better understand these very disturbing times.'' I'm here to provide you with some insight.” ”
MSNBC's ratings plummeted in the days following President Trump's victory two weeks ago.
Prime-time viewership for the Comcast-owned cable network fell 54%, with average daily viewers down to 736,000 viewers, down from 1.1 million last month.
The decline is a sharp turnaround from Election Day, when MSNBC's election night coverage, anchored by Rachel Maddow, averaged 6 million viewers, compared to CNN's 5.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen data. It is.
The uproar over “Morning Joe” comes amid major changes underway at Comcast, MSNBC's parent company, which announced Wednesday that it will be reorganizing NBC Universal Cable as part of an organizational restructuring due to the rise of digital streaming. announced plans to spin off part of its television network.
Comcast shares rose about 1.7% in premarket trading after the company announced it would separate its entertainment and news channels, including MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Oxygen, E!, Syfy and Golf Channel.
Comcast will retain some NBC entertainment, sports and news assets, along with its Peacock streaming service, its theme parks, and film and television studios.
with post wire
