The departure of Rachel Maddow from MSNBC in late January has been disastrous for the company, new data shows.
Maddow announced she was leaving her 9:00 pm show until at least April to work on a new podcast and that a movie is being made of her first book and podcast about former Vice President Spiro Agnew.
“Change is good,” she said at the time. “Change is absolutely terrifying, but in this case it’s good.”
Not so good for the executives at NBC News, it seems.
The network’s ratings for the all-important 25-54 demographic have plunged nearly 30 percent since Maddow left. According to The New York Post, just 201,000 viewers in the key demo tuned in this last Monday to see Maddow’s replacement — 1,636,000 total. MSNBC’s Ali Velshi and Alex Wagner have both filled in for Maddow.
The contrast to MSNBC’s struggles is sharp when compared to the 2,780,000 viewers who were watching Fox News’ Sean Hannity at the same time.
Maddow is making a comedy movie of her book “Bag Man” on former Vice President Spiro Agnew, who served in Richard Nixon’s administration. The movie is being directed by Ben Stiller and produced by NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” executive producer Lorne Michaels.
She is expected to appear during MSNBC’s coverage of major events, like President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. Multiple reports say Maddow’s new contract would have her step back from hosting every night, but MSNBC has never commented on it.
MSNBC's top-rated anchor Rachel Maddow announces "hiatus" from nightly show to work on "other projects."
"I'm nervous about all this, it's a change in my life … I'm just gonna be off or a few weeks, I'm not really going anywhere." pic.twitter.com/39xFyr3XhQ
— The Recount (@therecount) February 1, 2022
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