"Countdown" Beats "O'Reilly Factor" In Ratings Demo For First Time Ever

MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" beat Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor" in the key Adults 25-54 demographic for the first time ever last week.

"Countdown" averaged 477,000 viewers (A25-54) vs. O'Reilly's 472,000 (excluding Tuesday's primary coverage). This marks the first time that MSNBC has beaten Fox News in O'Reilly's 8pm time slot since June 2001.

Comments

[girard1991]

Keith Olbermann, the little engine who could and did. Congrats!

[Duckbill123]

I'LL DO IT LIVE!!! I'LL DO IT LIVE!!

[CallMeDeaconBlues]

Never mind the fact the BillO was on vacation that week. Shhhh!

[imogene]

Fantastic!!

[RememberTheAlamo]

Who is Keith Olberman?

Yours,

Rock Solid Bush Supporter

[cindy4america]

MY FELLOW AMERICANS,
Please BOYCOTT FOX news and tell your friends to do the same.

[amorando]

I do not and will not listen to Fox. That is neither news or fair commentary. It's an act, like a sit com. Oberman has an act too, but his is an act that sticks to the truth and contains wise analysis. There are no wild, groundless accusations by him.

[kroses98]

I have programmed my remote to bypass Fox, because I will not watch such TRASH as that mindless, abusive network!!!

[DelvinMcGee]

boy, that will really teach those dastardly conservatives how open minded and intelliegent you are. Ostrich?

[DelvinMcGee]

Rarely do you see as empty headed a group of people on HuffPost as Oberman fans. Just read these posts "we boycott fox", "we hate o'reilly", "keith kicks butt", "cable provider conspiracy". Sad.

The reality is that Fox in general, and O'Reilly in particular, slaughters not just Oberman, but all of MSNBC. Oberman is number 23 in ratings, and O'Reilly is number 1. The crowning achievement this week (filling in details missing from this "article" was achieved by
a. limiting demographics.
b. skipping one night. and
c. O'reilly being on vacation

I think O'Reilly is a blowhard who doesn't listen to his interviewees. Nevertheless, he is way more watchable, and thus way more popular than the top 3 people on MSNBC combined

[BlueStateMan]

O'Reilly's a "blowhard who doesn't listen to his interviewees" yet you find him "way more watchable".

What does that say about YOUR taste?

[ampman1961]

Really? Slaughters? In a Jerry Springer type of way I suppose and we all know how relevant he is. Billo has no credibility as a journalist and I doubt very seriously you could convince anyone with half a brain that he consistently tells the truth and if that is the reason he is number one in ratings, then that also shows how stupid many Americans have become.
Broad stroke statements like yours does nothing to engage competent discussion...
This "Empty Headed" person cannot sit through 1 minute of his garbage because of his constant vulgarity and lack of depth. By comparison, Olbermann (you might try to spell his name correctly) is refreshing and candid, not to mention infinitely smarter and more grounded in reality. Just for clarity, what is your definition of watchable Delvin?

[Raymondf]

Oreilly was off three nights that week, nice try.

[kroses98]

O'Reilly is ALWAYS "off!"

[zacher2005]

You all are a bunch of cry baby idiots. Hmmm I wonder who won ratings this week. I never liked Oreilly, but Olbermann is a farse to, and all of you are littl esheep who follow anyone who says what you want to hear.

Huffington loves the money you make for them...woooo hoooo

[BobK]

Hee - hee........ You have to be able to spell before your toddler-time commentary can be taken seriously. Meantime, just keep on with the Goo-goo, Ga-ga stuff.

[rgblue]

Chew on this, Fox sheeple:

Fox is on in almost every bar and restaurant with multiple TVs every night. MSNBC is not. Nobody's watching anyway because they're busy eating and socializing, or checking out sports if there's a game on. But it still counts as "viewers" for Fox.

In actuality, O'Reilly's numbers are thus quite inflated. Sad but true.

[AtheistVegGirl]

Wow, so bartenders and restauranteurs have single-handedly (double-handedly?) made Fox News so popular! The individual viewers mean nothing!

[ROMANMAN]

Hello newsies,I guess the twenty or so viewers of MSNBC are intitled to their opinion.They are in the ocean now holding up three fingers waiting for someone to save them.Everybody wants to be a star.Isn't it a shame they can't just read the news like Huntley and Brinkley.

[philinmedford]

I always liked Paul Harvey (remember him) with the "rest of the story". He'd tell you a bit of the story, then come back with the "rest of the story". I just find it interesting is all, don't REALLY care one way or another. Find it amusing actually that on one thread folks are screaming for media scrutiny and in this one praising the same thing they find objectionable *scratching head* Any way, here you go

"Like MSNBC as a whole, the left-leaning Olbermann benefited from increased attention on the exhausting final act of the Democratic primary season: During the week of June 2-8, MSNBC surged to an average of 408,000 adults 25-54 from a week-earlier 262,000, while CNN jumped even more, to 490,000 from 258,000.

Fox got a smaller boost in the demo (to 374,000 from 316,000) but stays perched at No. 5 in total day (1.7 million viewers vs. CNN’s 1.42 million and MSNBC’s 1.25 million) due to an overall older skew.

"Factor" still had a significant edge over "Countdown" in viewers last week, averaging 2.5 million over the four-day period to "Countdown's" 1.3 million.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117987208.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

[MaxBob]

Keith STILL lags well behind in total viewership EVERYDAY. If he gains a few days here and there, at least he'll keep his job. And alternatives and choice are great for consumers of NEWS. Though I wouldn't watch the CHIEF WHINER, others apparently do.

[ilcapo]

olbermann beats o'rielly in the most important factor...truthfulness

[crossoverwriter]

Bill sucks turkey butts.
Fox news is goin' down.

[danoj]

ya i suppose if you cherry pick a demographic maybe he did beat Oriely, but overall Olberman did not overtake Oreily's numbers. MSNBC is full of nothing but haters, and that's why they lose to Fox News every night. Olberman is one of there biggest haters, and for huff to post that he beat any Fox broadcast in any time slot by cherry picking demographics shows you what Huffington post is all about.

[Cookie100]

Thank you. What the heck are all these Repugnicans doing on HuffPo? Go sway, scat

[roccofortuna]

truthfulness? I'll agree Olbermann is truthful regarding the HALF of every story he tells. He has spent hours excitedly harpooning McCain for his advisers, and then doesn't even spend one second mentioning James Johnson...

...pretty scary to think there are people out there thinking they are getting the entire picture from Olbermann. He is extremely selective and partisan to the point where you you can't watch him and walk away well informed. This ratings game is case in point...

...cherry picking a group that *marketers* and *advertisers* cherish? So now the ability of Olbermann to sell more commercials aimed at thirty-somethings makes him a better journalist?

[ObamaLover]

well, bill WAS on vacation last week.

this week he is back and is hammering Olb by 1/2 million viewers every night.

[AtheistVegGirl]

Wow, good catch, ObamaLover!

Re: Bill O'Reilly, I will never like Catholocism (they practically created a new religion only loosely based on the Bible), I do credit O'Reilly with me switching to the Independent Party. He intelligently explained why the dealth penalty is wrong and unfair, he supports a green lifestyle to offset our global warming, and he was maybe the only news guy not to openly crap on Hillary Clinton when Obama began winning everyone over.

He's bombastic at times, and I guess that really only ticks off other bombasts who wish they had such a mega-platform. I've yet to meet a calm or rational person who 'hates' The Factor.

[phoenics]

I hate the Factor - largely because I don't appreciate Bill's style of 'debate'. It's not debate when you set up strawmen to attack, nor is it debate when you interrupt your opponent and cut his/her mike.

I'm all for debate - I'm a pretty good debater - but I find Bill O'Reilly's show tedious and full of half-truths pushed at the expense of full and open discourse.

I don't know if Bill is really as belligerent as he comes off, but I do think that he is exploitative. I'm also offended when he gets up on his high horse to step in between two African Americans who have a disagreement - completely missing the point of the discussion only to push his own limited view of the matter, after what he said about Michelle Obama. I think that Bill does not treat the subject of race with the respect that it deserves and I think he's actually rather ignorant about how racist he actually is, which is sad.

I do think much of his blather is for show, but I find it sad and pathetic that he has to rely on being a verbal bully and a sideshow for ratings. I would venture to guess that much of his ratings are actually from people wanting to see him bully someone else. Me myself? I'd much rather go down in history for a much nobler purpose.

[Cookie100]

I do and I am rational. Did you know your candidates wifey Cin stole drugs from poor needy kids and moms in order to sell them to give the money to her dr ug dealer!! That's what your pres said 8 years ago, that's why Johnny didn't get to run in 2000. That and he has an illegitimate black baby. Cin's drug history is a long, long one with lots of people knowing all about it. Isn't she great! Not to mention all her bank acct's opened in employees name so the money can't be traced to her, or yha'll she's a gem all right. No go back to Drudge where I'm positive your at home.
boo hoo!!!

[Cookie100]

Go comment on Malkins or Hannitys website, go away you frinking OReilly idiots!

[Cookie100]

you outta know. No one I've ever met would happen to know that OReilly was on vacation last week. I wouldn't speak to anyone who watches Faux

[sharonh]

How do you know what the person you are speaking to watches--do you ask them first?

[mdcolli]

This is good news....We will know that rationality and intelligence is being brought back into the media when Keith ratings are tops everynight.

[kidrips]

Where? In Berkeley?

[thedirtman]

I still miss Terry Glecoff. He could rattle off all of the important news in a day in just ten minutes.