MSNBC host Rachel Maddow has recently seen her ratings collapse in the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election. Following President-elect Donald Trump’s historic win over Vice President Kamala Harris, ratings tanked across the mainstream media after pundits completely missed their forecasts on the election and expressed hostility toward Trump. Amid this media shakeup, it appears Maddow was not spared.
Maddow, MSNBC’s highest-paid personality, has reportedly lost 43 percent of her audience since Election Day last month. Recent figures indicate the anchor now averages about 1.4 million viewers each week, a number that was 2.4 million during the same period of time last year. Furthermore, in the key advertising demographic of 25 to 54-year-olds, Maddow saw a 56 percent decline post-election.
Moreover, Maddow reportedly took a substantial pay cut for the “Rachel Maddow Show,” ostensibly a sign that her show and the network are struggling. The American Tribune previously reported on the reduction in Maddow’s pay: “Amid MSNBC’s struggles, star personality Rachel Maddow reportedly had her salary cut by approximately $5 million. Despite being one of the leading anchors at the left-leaning network, Maddow was forced to negotiate her $30 million per year salary for “The Rachel Maddow Show” down to $25 million for the next five years.”
The Tribune also reported on post-election remarks from conservative commentator Sean Spicer who pointed out that almost immediately after the election, mainstream networks such as MSNBC began to see their ratings. Across the board, the network’s various personalities saw their viewership, plummet, where Spicer concluded that legacy media was dying.
“This is out just a little while ago, the ratings for MSNBC,” the political commentator said, illustrating the struggles at MSNBC. “Morning Joe down 39.6, Andrea Mitchell down 39.7, Ari Melber down 49.6, Joy Reid down 54.6, all in the last week. Lawrence O’Donnell down 60.6, Stephanie Ruhle, the big winner, down 67 percent in ratings.” Spicer determined that the American people had ceased taking the network seriously after the election. “They lost the trust of the American people,” he said.
Calling out other signs of a correction at other networks, he said, “I mean, Chris Wallace, this morning announced that he’s leaving CNN to go to a platform. The thing is, you know, my view, I get, I’ve been asked, probably by about 10 to 12 reporters in the last 48 to 72 hours, how did we miss this again?” Spicer continued, “And I said we didn’t. You did. And I mean, and I say this respectfully, but I was just like, look, here are the guests that we’ve had on.”’
Spicer concluded that people were ultimately fed up with the networks after Trump’s win, a development that shattered their polling and narratives that were being pushed in the lead up to November. “There are people who are going great, I’ll tune you out, and I’ll go find somewhere else,” he continued. “When you look at the numbers, this show keeps growing every day because people, I think, are saying I can find out more in it, honestly, what’s happening on this platform than anywhere else.”
Watch Spicer below:
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