There’s a couple of things which are interesting about Saturday. The first is how poorly MSNBC’s weekend morning shows, Up with Steve Kornacki and The Melissa Harris-Perry Show performed in terms of Twitter engagement. The second is the win for Don Lemon and his coverage of the Malaysia Airlines flight 370 — and how it could have been better had CNN not made a mistake.
Saturday saw guest hosts for both of MSNBC’s morning shows with Krystal Ball in for Steve Kornacki and Jonathan Capehart substituting for Melissa Harris-Perry. Unfortunately, both of these hosts only delivered somewhere between one-half and one-fourth of the normal engagement when their usual hosts are in the chair. If this were a one-off event, it might not matter, but the ongoing leave of The MHP Show‘s host has slowed Twitter engagement from the show; and, as Up provides a lead-in to The MHP Show, Up‘s weakness makes the situation worse. The management at MSNBC cannot be pleased with ongoing audience drain this represents; the Twitter engagement weakness is no doubt reflected in the overall ratings.
With MSNBC’s morning stars sidelined, this left the day open for CNN’s Don Lemon and his coverage of Malaysia Airlines flight to take top spot. And, indeed, his live coverage with a team of experts, which asked viewers to tweet in questions, won best engagement. However, CNN made a silly mistake in the process: they put the wrong Twitter user id on the screen for Don Lemon, @DonLemonCNN, which is not his account — @DonLemon is. It’s hard to measure the impact of this, but at least 100 people ended up tweeting to the non-existent Don Lemon account.
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 2014-03-22
Top Shows for the day:
| Category | Mentions | Show |
| Most Mentions During Hour | 829 | CNN: Don Lemon MH370 show |
| Most Mentions During Day | 6236 | 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 | 59 | 692 | 61% | 39% |
Ratings for 1 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Fox News | Hannity | 511 | 6236 | 62% | 38% |
Ratings for 2 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 31 | 1840 | 60% | 40% |
| Fox News | On The Record w/Greta Van Susteren | 18 | 1072 | 48% | 52% |
Ratings for 3 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 19 | 1840 | 60% | 40% |
| Fox News | RedEye | 18 | 831 | 66% | 34% |
Ratings for 4 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Fox News | The Five | 10 | 70 | 70% | 30% |
Ratings for 5 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 20 | 1840 | 60% | 40% |
| Fox News | Hannity | 84 | 6236 | 62% | 38% |
Ratings for 6 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 25 | 1840 | 60% | 40% |
| CNN | New Day | 40 | 499 | 53% | 47% |
| Fox News | Fox and Friends Weekend | 15 | 375 | 60% | 40% |
| MSNBC | The Rachel Maddow Show | 15 | 1513 | 54% | 46% |
Ratings for 7 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 17 | 1840 | 60% | 40% |
| CNN | New Day | 47 | 499 | 53% | 47% |
| Fox News | Fox and Friends Weekend | 21 | 375 | 60% | 40% |
| HLN | Weekend Express | 7 | 58 | 33% | 67% |
Ratings for 8 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 73 | 1840 | 60% | 40% |
| CNN | New Day | 47 | 499 | 53% | 47% |
| Fox News | Fox and Friends Weekend | 26 | 375 | 60% | 40% |
| HLN | Weekend Express | 8 | 58 | 33% | 67% |
| MSNBC | Up w/Steve Kornacki | 492 | 1837 | 42% | 58% |
Ratings for 9 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| CNN | New Day (9-9:30) | 41 | 499 | 53% | 47% |
| CNN | Your Money (9:30-10) | 2 | 4 | 33% | 67% |
| Fox News | Fox and Friends Weekend | 85 | 375 | 60% | 40% |
| HLN | Weekend Express | 15 | 58 | 33% | 67% |
| MSNBC | Up w/Steve Kornacki | 574 | 1837 | 42% | 58% |
Ratings for 10 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 93 | 1840 | 60% | 40% |
| CNN | News Room | 9 | 76 | 88% | 12% |
| E | E! News Weekend | 234 | 3273 | 27% | 73% |
| Fox News | The Cost of Freedom | 0 | 4 | 67% | 33% |
| HLN | Weekend Express | 15 | 58 | 33% | 67% |
| MSNBC | Melissa Harris-Perry Show | 372 | 1786 | 41% | 59% |
Ratings for 11 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 80 | 1840 | 60% | 40% |
| CNN | News Room | 9 | 76 | 88% | 12% |
| HLN | Weekend Express | 3 | 58 | 33% | 67% |
| MSNBC | Melissa Harris-Perry Show | 594 | 1786 | 41% | 59% |
Ratings for 12 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 99 | 1840 | 60% | 40% |
| CNN | News Room | 11 | 76 | 88% | 12% |
| Fox News | America’s News HQ | 6 | 48 | 66% | 34% |
| HLN | Weekend Express | 1 | 58 | 33% | 67% |
| MSNBC | Weekends w/ Alex Witt | 9 | 37 | 67% | 33% |
Ratings for 1 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| CNN | News Room | 8 | 76 | 88% | 12% |
| Fox News | America’s News HQ | 11 | 48 | 66% | 34% |
| MSNBC | Weekends w/Alex Witt | 6 | 37 | 67% | 33% |
Ratings for 2 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 245 | 1840 | 60% | 40% |
| CNN | Your Money (2-2:30) | 0 | 4 | 33% | 67% |
| CNN | News Room | 6 | 76 | 88% | 12% |
| Fox News | WSJ Editorial Report (2pm) | 2 | 4 | 0% | 100% |
| Fox News | America’s News HQ (2:30) | 0 | 48 | 66% | 34% |
| MSNBC | MSNBC Live w/Craig Melvin | 1 | 11 | 29% | 71% |
Ratings for 3 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| CNN | News Room | 2 | 76 | 88% | 12% |
| Fox News | America’s News HQ | 5 | 48 | 66% | 34% |
| MSNBC | MSNBC Live w/Craig Melvin | 3 | 11 | 29% | 71% |
Ratings for 4 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 154 | 1840 | 60% | 40% |
| CNN | News Room (4-4:30) | 5 | 76 | 88% | 12% |
| CNN | Sanjay Gupta MD (4:30 – 5) | 4 | 72 | 45% | 55% |
| Fox News | A Healthy You w/ Carol Alt (4pm) | 0 | 0 | 0% | 0% |
| Fox News | America’s News HQ (4:30pm) | 1 | 48 | 66% | 34% |
| MSNBC | Disrupt w/ Karen Finney | 236 | 511 | 47% | 53% |
Ratings for 5 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| CNN | News Room | 2 | 76 | 88% | 12% |
| Fox News | The Five | 0 | 70 | 70% | 30% |
| Fox News | The Five w/Hosts | 72 | 3570 | 61% | 39% |
Ratings for 6 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 95 | 1840 | 60% | 40% |
| CNN | News Room | 3 | 76 | 88% | 12% |
| E | E! News Weekend | 67 | 3273 | 27% | 73% |
| Fox News | America’s News HQ | 9 | 48 | 66% | 34% |
Ratings for 7 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | Real Money with Ali Velshi | 0 | 6 | 100% | 0% |
| CNN | News Room | 0 | 76 | 88% | 12% |
| Fox News | Fox Report Weekend | 1 | 1 | 0% | 100% |
Ratings for 8 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 81 | 1840 | 60% | 40% |
| CNN | Don Lemon MH370 show | 679 | 4251 | 66% | 34% |
| Fox News | Huckabee | 63 | 243 | 68% | 32% |
Ratings for 9 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| CNN | Don Lemon MH370 show | 829 | 4251 | 66% | 34% |
| Fox News | Judge Jeanine | 27 | 154 | 62% | 38% |
Ratings for 10 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Fox News | Hannity | 248 | 6236 | 62% | 38% |
Ratings for 11 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 128 | 1840 | 60% | 40% |
| CNN | Sanjay Gupta MD (4:30 – 5) | 9 | 72 | 45% | 55% |
| Fox News | RedEye | 47 | 831 | 66% | 34% |
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.