In 2018, “AM Joy” Scores 3rd Straight Year of Growth on Weekends
“AM Joy” is Also the #1 Show in African-American Total Viewers Across All Cable During the Time Period
MSNBC is the Most-Watched Cable Network Among African Americans in Sales Day (M-Su 6am-2am) and Prime (M-F 8-11pm)
NEW YORK (January 3, 2019) – MSNBC’s “AM Joy,” hosted by MSNBC political analyst and host Joy Reid, topped CNN for the year with record viewership in 2018, according to Nielsen.
“AM Joy,” which airs from 10am to 12pmET on Saturdays and Sundays on MSNBC, posted all-time highs in total viewer ratings for MSNBC in its 3rd straight year of growth. “AM Joy” topped CNN for the 2nd year in a row on Saturdays (1.1M vs. CNN’s 862K) and for the 1st year ever on Sundays (931K vs. CNN’s 876K).
“AM Joy” was the #1 show across all of cable television among African Americans in total viewers during the 10am to 12pm weekend time period. On Saturdays, MSNBC was #1 during the time period in total viewers (ahead of #2 Nickelodeon, #7 CNN and #64 FOX News) and averaged 453,000 total viewers, more than 10 times that of FOX News (vs. FOX News’ 35,000 and CNN’s 277,000). On Sundays, MSNBC was #1 during the time period in total viewers (ahead of #2 Nickelodeon, #8 CNN and #69 FOX News) and averaged 390,000 total viewers, again more than 10 times that of FOX News (vs. FOX News’ 30,000 and CNN’s 262,000).
MSNBC also finished the year as the most-watched cable network among African Americans for the 2nd year in a row. In sales day (M-Su 6am-2am), MSNBC averaged 255,000 African-American total viewers, and was #1 among all cable networks (ahead of #2 BET, #3 ESPN, #4 ADSM, #5 CNN and #62 FOX News). MSNBC was the only cable network in the Top 15 to grow (+2%) in the demographic compared to the same time period in 2017. In addition, MSNBC was the most-watched cable network among African Americans during prime (M-F 8-11pm).
MSNBC capped off a record year as the #1 cable news network in prime for December and the #1 cable news network for the week of Dec. 17, beating FOX News for the 1st time in 17 years.
NOTE: 2018 year-end ratings are based on Nielsen Live+Same data day for 1/1/18-12/30/18. Individual show data represents regular programming only, excluding specials, election night and breaking news.
