Rachel Maddow Ratings: Beats Olbermann's "Countdown" To Be MSNBC's Top Show

The student has surpassed the master, at least for one night.

"The Rachel Maddow Show" was MSNBC's top-rated broadcast Tuesday night, unseating Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" as the network's top show.

Maddow drew 1.8 million total viewers compared to Olbermann's 1.6 million. Maddow also outdrew Olbermann in the advertiser-friendly 25-54 demographic, taking 25,000 more young adults than her lead-in "Countdown."

Full ratings numbers below (via TV By The Numbers):

8PM - P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
The O'Reilly Factor- 3,060,000 viewers (731,000) (1,253,000)
Election Center-1,166,000 viewers (431,000) (576,000)
Countdown w/Keith Olbermann- 1,635,000 viewers (509,000) (771,000)
On the Money--207,000 viewers (65,000) (106,000)
Nancy Grace -1,166,000 viewers (412,000) (618,000)

9 PM - P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
Hannity & Colmes-3,136,000 viewers (716,000) (1,375,000)
Larry King--1,710,000 viewers (496,000) (801,000)
Rachel Maddow Show-1,801,000 viewers (534,000) (872,000)
Business of Innovation--a scratch w/102,000 viewers (a scratch w/42,000) (59,000)
Glenn Beck- 656,000 viewers (211,000) (354,000)

10 PM P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
On the Record w/Greta--2,908,000 viewers (727,000) (1,367,000)
Anderson Cooper 360-1,828,000 viewers (647,000) (898,000)
Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann-1,127,000 viewers (412,000) (616,000)
Saving General Motors-187,000 viewers (93,000) (121,000)
Nancy Grace -717,000 viewers (373,000) (420,000)

Update: The hosts of Morning Joe congratulated Rachel Maddow on her ratings success Thursday morning. Joe Scarborough, who has sparred with Maddow in the past, had particularly kind words for her, saying:

TV folk are some of the craziest folk I know, as Krusty the Clown might say. But she is a good, good person. We probably don't agree on anything politically. But she's respectful of people, and it's great. File this under, one of those good people doing well."

Watch:

Comments

[atila]

I love Rachel,she is going to be very important during these elections,she's energizing a young audience and that's good for the Country...

[Bademus]

I'm not surprised at all. I love Keith but Rachel is different than any other pundit/rep­orter/anch­or out there. She is as smart or smarter than any one of them and is so endearing. She will give Bill O'Reilly a run for his money in overall ratings, of course it is Keith that goes head to head with him in timeslot. She's funny, humble, endearing and has a way of forcefully getting her point across while not offending anyone. I'm a big fan.

[thylacine550]

I agree with everything you said. I think she can and will be taken more seriously as a journalist than olbermann because, though I agree with his politics, his smugness can border on annoying and turn me off from watching.

I'd rather watch an anchor who reflects my leanings, but olbermann is a little too much of a blowhard cheerleader at times.

[ScandalousCandice]

Yeah Joe thinks she is a good person but I wonder what he thought of her when she punked him on Race to the White House and he threw is mic off and walked off set. He is such an embarrassment.

[CabaretArtist]

I couldn't agree with you more. Scarborough is an ass...

Congrats to well-deserving Rachel.

[chigrrl]

Rachel Maddow, Jane Smiley and Anne Lamott are responsible for my sanity since the Palin speech at the RNC.

That and volunteering at a soup kitchen. In the face of all of this evil (because Palin is evil), go do some good. It helps.

[MandieD]

Is Palin smart enough to be evil?

[lovethesinner]

"There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come." -Victor Hugo

If Olbermann was as clear and concise (by that I mean, if he could get over trying to be the TV version of Thomas Boswell) he'd still be my favorite. Don't get me wrong, I love and support everything Keith Olbermann says and does. I would jump on the hand grenade for him (he's that important, IMHO) but...

I have to rewind my TiVo back and forth to unearth the message from underneath his RUBE GOLDBERG sentence construction. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg

I DON'T WATCH THE NEWS TO MARVEL AT THE DELICACIES OF DEPENDENT CLAUSES. (i think he suffers from SPORTSCASTER'S DISEASE: a need to overcompensate for a subject's lack of gravity)

Congrats, Rachel, you deserve all the praise you get.

[Amalek]

Keith likes to show off his superior intellect. He should instead put it to work mastering the art of communicating to everyone.

[eden4barack08]

He does tend to get a bit too verbose.

[editorjuno]

Olbermann can be pretty pedantic at times, but he's just as smart as he thinks he is and has a wicked sense of humor. Doctor Maddow has a special knack for demonstrating her intelligence and savvy without any trace of "look at me!" narcissism, which is a big reason why she's becoming a media superstar so quickly -- there's simply nobody remotely like her. She's authentic, and it's impossible to imagine her getting swallowed up by her own success like so many others in her business.

[MandieD]

I think you have a point. However, there's something to be said for the overall "dumbing-down" of the news media, so someone like Olbermann stands out even more by comparison.

[PT6]

McFoxEm puts you in a trance like "Moonriver", simply close your eyes and enjoy the sweet sound of our economy drifting into crisis, with McSwitch telling you "our economy is fundamentally sound."

That is why people listen to them - "everything is great" and don't believe anyone but McBush/McSwitch.

Congratulation to Maddow and Olbermann! We need them to counter McFoxEm.

[Amalek]

Great show. MSNBC needs Maddow not be a one trick pony. She is pleasant and intelligent, as edgy as O'Reilly without the obnoxiousness. Olbermann may fight with O'Reilly, but his real counterpart is Hannity. In a perfect world, they would put Olbermann and O'Reilly in a cage and let them do the news.

[Aabby]

I live them both! But Rachel brought her following along with the existing MSNBC crowd. plus I watch more TV at 9pm than 8 as I get home later and later. It doesn’t hurt that Rachel is hot.

[Amalek]

Hot? Only to a certain segment of society. She likes the fairer sex.

[Actionman]

still hot you FDA

[bitterspinster]

So you are saying because she's gay that both men and women can't find her hot? That 's just silly and untrue.

[AlohaMark2]

Uhmm - someone can be "hot" or attractive to someone regardless of the sexual orientation of the...oh nevermind; if I have to spell it out then forget it..

[thylacine550]

Newsflash: Plenty of straight men find attractive lesbians attractive. And I don't think there's a soul in the world who is in doubt about her orientation. In other words, I don't think you're educating anyone on something they don't already know.

[Muffy7]

Most people know Rachel's sexual orientation, I am sure. But did you have to mention it? I think that was a bit nasty.

[RobertAndropolis]

Scarborough is not to be trusted. He's a petulant bully who walked off the stage on-air of "Race To The White House" when he could not steamroller Maddow (you may recall Maddow's zinger to him: "Let me make my point Joe before you dismiss me.") For him to praise Maddow is an insult. He doesn't even belong in the same hemisphere as Maddow, never mind the same network.

Maddow is too sharp and passionate to be an on-air cable head, when compared to her colleagues and especially when compared to her competition. I suspect she will find herself in some high-level capacity in the Obama Administration, serving at the pleasure of the president.

[jukesgrrl]

I think Scarborough's getting scared of her. He knows what those kind of ratings mean.

[Muffy7]

As many adverse comments that are on here and other venues, it seems that it is about time to get rid of Loud mouth Joe. Sooner than Later, I hope.

[Scarllatti]

It doesn't matter. I first watch Keith and then stay on to watch Rachel since MSNBC axed that boring slot for that creepy lawyer.

[TexasDem0]

Apologies to “Reuben and Rachel”

Rachel, Rachel, I've been thinking
What a strange world this would be
If you had your own TV show
On MSN-NBC!

[TexasDem0]

You could talk about the right wing
Noise machine for all to see
The echo chamber is not much more
Than lies in reality.

[Pegi]

Love Rachel and her show. Love hearing a bright woman's take on the political spectrum. LOVE KEITH - KEITH IS MY HERO!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!! now rachel is right after, a perfect two hours of television for me every nite!!! Morning Joe is getting so sickening I can't stand them anymore. They are so in the tank for McMoose, that they aren't even hiding it anymore. Especially MIKA!!!! Joe is just sickening!!!

No more morning heartburn for me, Keith and Rachel, all the political news I need!!!!! Matthews is alright, he gets on my nerves sometimes when he doesn't make any sense!!!

Obama/Biden 08

[Bozwellian]

Agree, perfect cocktail hour with Keith and Rachel and as for Morning Joe, it has past its prime for sure and way too drivelly to bother with more often than not these days and as a west coaster, means an extra hour or two of sleep or if early rising, chek out OTHER reportings reporting and local broadcasts regarding weather and traffic rahter than suffer the MJ cruise !!

[Alvarask]

Couldn't agree more! They are both superb! And even Chris Matthews has his moments. MSNBC might be turning into my favorite network. We hardly ever watch CNN now.

[TheKidd]

reminds me of Stewart/Colbert. Colbert was his disciple and now (althought they are both top notch shows) Colbert's show is arguably better than Stewart. Same thing with countdown and Talk me down. both good but so far, i prefer Maddow's show cause they seem to go more in depth and she's willing to have people who disagree with her from time to time.

[RobertaInCT]

KO and RM are the only two shows I watch on MSNBC.....­.

Go Rachel!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!­!

[KGinSanFrancisco]

Congratulations to Rachel and to MSNBC for giving her the chance to shine. I've always loved Keith but he loses me with the silly parts of his show. Rachel is super smart, deep into the facts and analysis, has great guests on and gives us a full hour of substantial and valuable information. She goes through all the bullshit news that are floating around and debunks it with her laser sharp thinking skills. Her Tuesday show was fantastic and it made me think that she could be even better than KO. I love both and look forward to watching both their shows everyday!