Viewers Flee MSNBC, and Flock to Fox News, in Wake of Election

Rachel Maddow opened her MSNBC show on Monday night with a sobering 26-minute monologue.Between deep sighs and the occasional shake of the head, Ms.Maddow went through the people President-elect Donald J.

Trump had named to his new administration.To say the least, she was not a fan of his selections.

But it was important to go through them, she said.“It is better to be cleareyed about these things and to see them coming,” she said, “than to be in denial or to be surprised by them when they come around.”It seems her audience does not agree, at least for the moment.“The Rachel Maddow Show,” the liberal network’s highest-rated program, drew 1.3 million viewers on Monday, about a million shy of her October average, according to Nielsen.In a crucial ratings metric — viewers under the age of 54 — it was the least-watched edition of the show since April 2022.That performance mirrors much of what has been happening at MSNBC in the week since Mr.

Trump’s election win.MSNBC has averaged 550,000 viewers since Election Day, a 39 percent decline compared with the network’s average in October.

In prime time, MSNBC’s audience has declined 53 percent, according to the Nielsen data.The opposite has happened at Fox News, MSNBC’s conservative rival.Fox’s audience in prime time has grown by 21 percent since last Wednesday, with an average of 3.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

Its total day audience has jumped 38 percent.As Mr.Trump has turned to some Fox News talent to help fill out his administration, the network’s coverage has been more euphoric than sober.

Mr.Trump has named Tom Homan, a Fox News contributor, as his “border czar,” and on Tuesday night said that he had selected Pete Hegseth, a co-host of “Fox & Friends Weekend,” as his defense secretary.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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