The Melissa Harris-Perry Show won best hour, barely, with a very light number of mentions. It’s score, 850 mentions for the 11am hour, wasn’t too far ahead of the 804 Up with Steve Kornacki got at 8 am or Disrupt with Karen Finney‘s 375 at the 4pm hour. Up through the beginning of February, the MHP show was regularly pulling in over 2000 mentions during the same hour, and sometimes far more.
Unfortunately for MSNBC and The MHP Show‘s ratings, two big things have affected the show. The first was the Winter Olympics, which took up most of the month of February and scrambled MSNBC’s weekend schedule by pre-empting shows with sporting events. Even when The MHP Show was unaffected, frequently Up with Steve Kornacki was replaced with a hockey game. The second is (still) the host’s maternity leave, which started mid-February. These two have acted like a slow leak on audience engagement over the past month and a half.
Even though the show has been ably served by a series of guest hosts, it is clear that the audience misses the sparkle of Ms. Harris-Perry. Let’s hope, for her and MSNBC’s sake, the audience doesn’t develop new habits for weekend mornings and her engagement levels are restored upon her return.
Caveat: I am not measuring the separate, personal engagement of the substitute hosts but only the show’s Twitter accounts and hashtags. I do not expect that this makes a large difference, but I could be wrong.
Note that all times are US Eastern Time. See notes at end for further explanations. For earlier articles on cable news twitter ratings, please see this.
Cable News Twitter Ratings for 2014-03-15
Top Shows for the day:
| Category | Mentions | Show |
| Most Mentions During Hour | 850 | MSNBC: Melissa Harris-Perry Show |
| Most Mentions During Day | 4081 | Fox News: Hannity |
Ratings for individual time slots
Ratings for 12 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Fox News | The Kelly File | 92 | 412 | 60% | 40% |
Ratings for 1 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Fox News | Hannity | 167 | 4081 | 65% | 35% |
Ratings for 2 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 28 | 1890 | 63% | 37% |
| Fox News | On The Record w/Greta Van Susteren | 9 | 542 | 58% | 42% |
Ratings for 3 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 19 | 1890 | 63% | 37% |
| Fox News | RedEye | 42 | 326 | 63% | 37% |
Ratings for 4 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Fox News | The Five | 3 | 69 | 77% | 23% |
Ratings for 5 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 11 | 1890 | 63% | 37% |
| Fox News | Hannity | 73 | 4081 | 65% | 35% |
Ratings for 6 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 12 | 1890 | 63% | 37% |
| CNN | New Day | 13 | 499 | 56% | 44% |
| Fox News | Fox and Friends Weekend | 23 | 478 | 66% | 34% |
| MSNBC | The Rachel Maddow Show | 12 | 984 | 55% | 45% |
Ratings for 7 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 14 | 1890 | 63% | 37% |
| CNN | New Day | 32 | 499 | 56% | 44% |
| Fox News | Fox and Friends Weekend | 47 | 478 | 66% | 34% |
| HLN | Weekend Express | 11 | 41 | 88% | 12% |
Ratings for 8 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 48 | 1890 | 63% | 37% |
| CNN | New Day | 61 | 499 | 56% | 44% |
| Fox News | Fox and Friends Weekend | 38 | 478 | 66% | 34% |
| HLN | Weekend Express | 1 | 41 | 88% | 12% |
| MSNBC | Up w/Steve Kornacki | 804 | 2645 | 46% | 54% |
Ratings for 9 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| CNN | New Day (9-9:30) | 60 | 499 | 56% | 44% |
| CNN | Your Money (9:30-10) | 1 | 18 | 93% | 7% |
| Fox News | Fox and Friends Weekend | 88 | 478 | 66% | 34% |
| HLN | Weekend Express | 2 | 41 | 88% | 12% |
| MSNBC | Up w/Steve Kornacki | 735 | 2645 | 46% | 54% |
Ratings for 10 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 87 | 1890 | 63% | 37% |
| CNN | News Room | 0 | 261 | 67% | 33% |
| E | E! News Weekend | 302 | 3064 | 28% | 72% |
| Fox News | The Cost of Freedom | 3 | 59 | 58% | 43% |
| HLN | Weekend Express | 4 | 41 | 88% | 12% |
| MSNBC | Melissa Harris-Perry Show | 690 | 2424 | 42% | 58% |
Ratings for 11 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 228 | 1890 | 63% | 37% |
| CNN | News Room | 2 | 261 | 67% | 33% |
| HLN | Weekend Express | 2 | 41 | 88% | 12% |
| MSNBC | Melissa Harris-Perry Show | 850 | 2424 | 42% | 58% |
Ratings for 12 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 66 | 1890 | 63% | 37% |
| CNN | News Room | 5 | 261 | 67% | 33% |
| Fox News | America’s News HQ | 60 | 170 | 69% | 31% |
| HLN | Weekend Express | 1 | 41 | 88% | 12% |
| MSNBC | Weekends w/ Alex Witt | 31 | 167 | 56% | 44% |
Ratings for 1 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| CNN | News Room | 1 | 261 | 67% | 33% |
| Fox News | America’s News HQ | 22 | 170 | 69% | 31% |
| MSNBC | Weekends w/Alex Witt | 28 | 167 | 56% | 44% |
Ratings for 2 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 46 | 1890 | 63% | 37% |
| CNN | Your Money (2-2:30) | 9 | 18 | 93% | 7% |
| CNN | News Room | 4 | 261 | 67% | 33% |
| Fox News | WSJ Editorial Report (2pm) | 2 | 3 | 50% | 50% |
| Fox News | America’s News HQ (2:30) | 16 | 170 | 69% | 31% |
| MSNBC | MSNBC Live w/Craig Melvin | 10 | 26 | 45% | 55% |
Ratings for 3 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| CNN | News Room | 14 | 261 | 67% | 33% |
| Fox News | America’s News HQ | 19 | 170 | 69% | 31% |
| MSNBC | MSNBC Live w/Craig Melvin | 4 | 26 | 45% | 55% |
Ratings for 4 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 88 | 1890 | 63% | 37% |
| CNN | News Room (4-4:30) | 14 | 261 | 67% | 33% |
| CNN | Sanjay Gupta MD (4:30 – 5) | 5 | 308 | 47% | 53% |
| Fox News | A Healthy You w/ Carol Alt (4pm) | 0 | 0 | 0% | 0% |
| Fox News | America’s News HQ (4:30pm) | 3 | 170 | 69% | 31% |
| MSNBC | Disrupt w/ Karen Finney | 375 | 808 | 53% | 47% |
Ratings for 5 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| CNN | News Room | 17 | 261 | 67% | 33% |
| Fox News | The Five | 2 | 69 | 77% | 23% |
| Fox News | The Five w/Hosts | 80 | 3616 | 61% | 39% |
Ratings for 6 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 56 | 1890 | 63% | 37% |
| CNN | News Room | 139 | 261 | 67% | 33% |
| E | E! News Weekend | 60 | 3064 | 28% | 72% |
| Fox News | America’s News HQ | 9 | 170 | 69% | 31% |
Ratings for 7 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | Real Money with Ali Velshi (3:30) | 8 | 55 | 74% | 26% |
| CNN | News Room | 31 | 261 | 67% | 33% |
| Fox News | Fox Report Weekend | 6 | 6 | 100% | 0% |
Ratings for 8 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 167 | 1890 | 63% | 37% |
| Fox News | Huckabee | 55 | 149 | 65% | 35% |
Ratings for 9 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Fox News | Judge Jeanine | 438 | 907 | 61% | 39% |
Ratings for 10 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Fox News | Hannity | 326 | 4081 | 65% | 35% |
Ratings for 11 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 42 | 1890 | 63% | 37% |
| Fox News | RedEye | 42 | 326 | 63% | 37% |
Definition of terms used in this report:
- Network: For the purposes of total network mentions, the count is the total unique tweets that mention any of the shows tracked on the network or the network’s general Twitter account (e.g., @CNN).
- Mentions During Hour or Tweets Hour: The number of tweets that mention the show during the hour specified. For shows that are repeat later in the day, the first (and often live) showing usually garners the most mentions by a significant margin.
- Mentions During day or Tweets Day: The total number of mentions a show received from midnight to midnight, eastern time.
- Tweet Count: The number of tweets (including retweets) that mention a show.
- Unique Tweeters: The number of Twitter users who have sent one or more tweets mentioning a show. If a user sends more than one tweet, they still only count once.
- Reach: A measure of the number of impressions a collection of tweets will make. For each tweet that is sent, it adds up how many people follow the person tweeting it — how many timelines that tweet will show up in. Thus, if network A has 10,000 mentions from people with an average of 10 followers, the reach will be 100,000. On the other hand, if network B has 10,000 mentions from people with an average of 100 followers, the reach will be 1,000,000. So network B has much greater reach: tweets mentioning network B will potentially be seen 10 times as often as tweets about network A.
- Male / Female: An estimate of the demographics of a show’s audience. Note that this number is an imprecise estimate.
Cable News Twitter Ratings are still experimental. If you have any suggestions, find any errors, or have any questions, please feel free to contact me at admin@socialseer.com
For further discussion of how these stats are calculated, please see this blog post. Especially the part about how I determine the gender of Twitter users.