MSNBC’s Collapse Began With The Departure of Keith Olbermann

[Tx4obama]

MSNBC’s Collapse Began With The Departure of Keith Olbermann

MSNBC’s ratings have plunged this year, and the the domino effect of bad decisions that have killed the network’s ratings began with the departure of Keith Olbermann.

-snip-

Olbermann suggested that the network is in a state of collapse, and the second quarter ratings for 2013 have proven him right. MSNBC’s primetime is down 16% overall, and 12% with younger viewers. The primetime numbers for individual programs are even worse.

All In With Chris Hayes has been a complete ratings disaster. Hayes has lost 28% of The Ed Show’s viewers, and he is down 10% from Ed Schultz’s ratings with younger viewers. Hayes’ ratings struggles have led to Rachel Maddow having her worst quarter since 2008. Maddow’s struggles have led to Lawrence O’Donnell losing 15% of his total viewers, and 22% of his younger viewers.

MSNBC’s ratings decline can be traced back to three bad decisions.

-snip-

Full article here: http://www.politicususa.com/2013/07/12/msnbcs-collapse-began-departure-keith-olbermann.html

[femmocrat]

1. I agree.

Remember how we used to be all abuzz over KO's special commentaries? When was the last time anyone mentioned something said by Chris Hayes?

Remember Ed's coverage of he protests in Wisconsin? There was such excitement over seeing him there. We were glued to our TVs back then.

Rachel even bores me now and I used to think she added some fun to the evening line up.

[slade1955]

42. Not The Same!

Since they got rid of Ed Schultz at 8 I have stopped watching MSNBC at night. I liked Ed's show and I would watch Rachel's show after Ed's. Chris Hayes is just too boring and dull. I could handle him on his weekend morning shows once in awhile but not 5 days a week on prime time. MSNBC needs some more hard hitters in prime time.

[Quantess]

46. Welcome to DU!

I really enjoyed Ed Schulz's show. What were they thinking, getting rid ofg him for Chris Hayes? Nothing wrong with Chris Hayes, but Ed has more pizzazz.

[Just Saying]

2. No lie.

I still love Rachel Maddow but I miss Keith. Don't know what you got til it's gone.

[southernyankeebelle]

26. Oh I miss KO and Big Ed. I enjoyed watching KO take it to the white house and politicans.

Then loved watching big Ed and Maddow following him. I like Hayes but he is to wonkish to me.

[Just Saying]

38. The three of them were a great mix!

Rachel is brilliant, very serious and pragmatic, KO also brilliant but always with a personal touch to his stories (he let you see how he felt about what was going on) and Ed who is the smart, bold, Everyman. How can you help but love a news man who goes out on the picket lines with workers to get the story?

I read KO is coming back to TV for baseball but it's a real shame he's not doing the news anymore.

[southernyankeebelle]

43. Your description is totally correct. Notice when they talk badly about KO giving his view

on stories they call him crazy along with big Ed too.

[Auggie]

3. I needed a break ... outrage burnout

That's why I stopped watching.

[Mojorabbit]

18. Same here. I am just tired. nt

[pnwest]

39. Plus the repetitiveness from show to show to show

Of the same stories, talking points and talking heads. The entire lineup has become a seamless white noise.

[Auggie]

41. At least Olbermann was highly entertaining. I think the world of Rachel Maddow ...

no one works harder or IMO, smarter, in television. She has a great show. But I really needed a break from repuke bullshit.

[madinmaryland]

45. I thought you stopped because the Ginats were having a really bad year!

Regardless, it was not Olbermann leaving four years ago that caused MSNBC to get less ratings. FFS, FOX Noise is down too.

[orpupilofnature57]

4. +1000 !!!!

My first clue MSNBC was askew, was sacking the one man that could dole out admonishment where they belonged .

[Bluenorthwest]

5. That and the ascension of Maddow, who is all about Money For Maddow and had 'Uncle' Pat

the hate monger as her constant guest because she was paid to host a hater of her own kind. Hope she digs the money. She's sold so much to get it.

[orpupilofnature57]

6. Whaaa????

[Auggie]

7. That's crazy

[grammiepammie]

10. Maddow

That is ridiculous!!!

[elleng]

14. B.S.

[GoneFishin]

34. Cocoa Puffs anybody?

[JHB]

49. Anybody want some?

[PearliePoo2]

8. I find that I hang on Ed's every word. I just like the guy..

and his delivery, his voice and his passion. Chris speaks too fast, too clipped and I don't really care for his voice. I tried though.

[hlthe2b]

9. I have to agree. KO may have been beyond difficult for them to manage....

but, IMO, they SHOULD have found a way. Sometimes you just have to stroke the egos.

But, having lost him, why the mucked with what was working is beyond me.

Chris Hayes is very smart, but his round table format really doesn't work night after night, but was better on the weekends... And followed by Maddow, I find that this is a bit too much "wonkiness" to sit through night after night.

[grasswire]

11. I only watch Martin Bashier regularly now.

Sometimes Lawrence. Sometimes Alex Wagner (who has probably the best and most intelligent program of all).

I'm so done with Rachel, for several reasons that I have said before. Chris Hayes is too hard to watch, although he does often make brilliant analyses. Tweety -- 'nuff said.

I watched Keith Olbermann EVERY DAMN NIGHT and would have watched him ALL DAY LONG.

He is the only one who was not owned by the PTB.

[Betsy Ross]

19. Yay KO! nt

[Little Star]

27. I agree about Keith but I still like Rachel....

I learn a lot from her show.

[stuffmatters]

12. Keith was the best

I miss him terribly. Especially his sense of humor.

I've been enjoying Chris Hayes 5-6, instead of the network evening news. I enjoyed taping his weekend shows, then watching them with morn coffee (PST). He's even better in an hour segment now I think. He is gently both intelligent and liberal, has guests and view points I don't see on other shows. Kornacki hasn't really filled Hayes' shoes on the weekends either.

Maddow and Lawrence I don't watch as much anymore. Maybe because I enjoy Hayes more, tho I used to watch them all in a row.
Maddow just seems to take forever to make obscure points, and Lawrence just has lost interest. Where are the good guests too...rarely do we see Taibbi or the Daily Kos Guy or even Elliott Spitzer. And ed rendell should be let go for conflict of interest (taking major bucks shilling for Fix the Debt & Big Fracking) MSNBC's Back Up Band of academics/experts has become so boring. So it's not all the hosts' fault.

[Atman]

13. I loved Chris Hayes in the mornings...

I've never watched his show in the evening. Big mistake.

[Snarkoleptic]

16. Up with Chris was a perfect AM weekend show.

Nothing against Steve K, but Chris was really good in that time slot.
Also, Big Red Ed was required viewing during his old time slot.

[Ghost of Tom Joad]

48. I agree

now I don't watch either program. Seeing Chris at 8 just doesn't work, he's too much like Rachel. Ed was great would like to see him back if it's not personal affairs that tie him to the weekend. Martin Bashir would have been much better at 8.

[tridim]

51. Agreed, I enjoyed watching him on Sat and Sunday mornings.

I don't even care that he's on during the week.

Fix it MSNBC.

[miked62916]

15. Very true

KO's stuff was probably the only thing worth watching on that channel.

[ffr]

17. Bring back Keith, more Eddie and keep TRMS

Love all their unique angles and investigative journalism:

KO: Stinging messages and commentary
ES: Straight talking working man
TRMS: Some of the best hard hitting investigative journalism anywhere

[erpowers]

20. President Obama's Election and Ed Schultz

In my opinion the real problems started with the election of President Obama. When President Bush was in office a large number of Democrats wanted a news source that gave an alternative to the Bush Administration. Now that President Obama is in office they may no longer feel the need for that news source.

Second, the decision to replace Ed Schultz with Chris Hayes is turning out to be bad. Some might want to ask who came up the idea to change the placements of Chris Hayes and Ed Schultz. It now seems it would have been better to leave things as they were. It seems a large amount of people liked watching Ed Schultz in prime time.

[demgrrrll]

21. What part has comcast played in this debacle?

[Loudly]

30. I think you might be onto something there. n/t

[ceonupe]

54. Hipsters and 80s baby's

Buy gadgets, dig the paid placement of brands, can afford the $156 ledburry shirts and all that pays for cable tv.

The forgot people watched the Everyman Schultz because he was real and identifiable.

I see many like Ed being pushed out of the modern coalition. The middle age straight non mcdreamy white guy (union or not) is not the image.

[snot]

22. The decline in profits from news journalism curiously coincides with

the decline in news journalism.

For all the soul-searching about the tragic demise of journalism as a viable business, funny how little you hear about the possibility that maybe it's because they've gotten to where they rarely report the news.

[Enthusiast]

23. MSNBC would rather die than allow unchallenged

liberal commentary.

Chris Hayes has improved somewhat. But, still.

[lindysalsagal]

24. No. Reality hurts, and fantasy will always trump reality on TV. That's all this is.

It's no different from the NPR effect: People want mindless candy, not intellectual stimulation.

MSNBC isn't doing anything wrong: People just can't handle the honest truth. They want sex and violence.

Remove the fights and car wrecks from hockey and nascar and watch how fast the ratings plummet.

[bemildred]

25. +1. Entertainment is not compelling, news won't fill up the day. nt

[PATRICK]

28. Corporate ownership per se

is ironically the problem. How can you be the default mainstream "real" news channel vying for the Fox audience and maintaining corporate propaganda values when even the newsless monopolies tear at the meatless corpse with two many choices?

Competing for squattership on a shrinking hill. The behavior, the unreality they are locked into as a working illusion has two choices. Live through this money losing circus for the sake of the top 1% or create one super outlet in fact like the good old tyrannies of other countries. They want to be Pravda and have a competition moneyfest too.

I don't wish them any luck. Haven't watched any of them in more than a decade.

[House of Roberts]

29. I hope Ed is back today.

He had guest hosts all week on his radio show.

As to the ratings slide, in prime time, I think people haven't taken to Chris Hayes, combined with viewers drop in the summer, plus viewers drop after an election.

[pgr]

31. As much as I liked Chris Hayes

On weekend morning I watched him several times @ 8 PM and gave up. His show just sucks as much as I hate to say it. He is brilliant but "not ready for prime time"! Move Rachael to 8 PM and Laurence to 9 PM and get rid of all the locked up prison shows! Who wants to watch that garbage other than society's misfits?

I pretty much gave up Morning Joe because Joe is such an obnoxious, out of touch "Bushie" and I'm ready to drop cable all together after this summer.

[livetohike]

32. I miss Keith too

and I switched to Current when he was on there. I've watched MSNBC for a long, long time. They have become stale, like old bread that isn't moldy yet, but pretty dried out. Stale and predictable.

The station needs a complete shake up of its programming, imo.

I miss Keith's sense of humor because it was most like mine. I like Rachel's analysis, but her fawning over right wing guests has turned me off. Especially this week when she introduced Nicole Wallace as "my friend" and was just gushing over her. Where did that rebel go, who seemed to represent my points of view?

[fredamae]

33. None of it is an accident

nor poor decision making.
When we become bewildered over certain decisions like this?
Just remember--there is a "corporate person" with a plan and a defense mechanism in place behind these decisions.
The commentators who have departed "said too much" (even tho they never seemed to say enuf )--all things lead back to money--corporate media, for all they are not for informing/serving us--Is all about money--First.

I barely watch them myself anymore and I never missed a program...These days the TV Machine is mostly off (plus I loathe "Reality Shows&quot --and I'm wondering WHY The Hell do I continue to pay for access when there is rarely, if ever these days, anything Worth spending my time on.

[GoneFishin]

35. Yep. Keith told the unvarnished truth, and I think it was too much for the corporatists.

MSNBC is self-destructing as a result of their sucking up to power.

I suspected that MSNBC hosts have some limits as to what they can say. Then it was confirmed when The Young Turks left MSNBC and moved to CURRENT TV:

Rejecting Lucrative Offer, Cenk Uygur Leaves MSNBC After Being Told to "Act Like An Insider""

"He said Griffin had called him into his office in April and told him he had been talking to people in Washington, and that they did not like Uygur's tone. "

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/democracy-now/cenk-uygur-leaves-msnbc_b_906708.html

Although I really like Rachael Maddow I do think she has lost a bit of her edge, and seems to be going along to get along.

[GTurck]

36. I have stopped....

watching MSNBC for the most part because I am tired of hearing the same things and having no idea or support in how to change them. The shows have become formulaic and predictable in many ways. MSNBC was the only major cable news that I watched until Current TV, Link TV, and Free Speech TV started broadcasting.

Basically though I watch re-runs of The Daily Show, Stephen Colbert, Castle, Bones, and NCIS when I bother at all. I no longer watch local stations for their news because they don't report on anything that doesn't bleed or burn except for the weather.

[Babel_17]

37. When they fired Donahue

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Donahue#MSNBC_program

Ethical collapse preceded the financial troubles. And let's face it, how loyal do we feel to MSNBC as a brand? Many of us think MSNBC is giving us some good programming only because they can make a buck off it. The commitment to quality news and discussion of opinions just isn't there at the top.

When Olbermann was on a roll I was somewhat loyal to MSNBC. I don't even bother having Cable TV anymore. I sometimes listen to Ms. Maddow on her show's website, that's it.

[railsback]

40. Like many, outrage burnout

There wasn't a GOP manufactured scandal MSNBC wasn't jumping all over. For me, they're permanently damaged, including Rachel. I just read shit now.

[blkmusclmachine]

44. .

.

[Kablooie]

47. Oh good. We may lose one of the only liberal outlets in the media.

With the way the country is going I almost feel like giving up.
Everything seems to be swinging to the extreme right at warp speed and no one seems to be able to slow it down at all.
The Tea Party may be a small proportion if America but they are steam rolling over our country with impunity.

[Brigid]

50. Olbermann, Maddow, and Big Ed . . .

Ah, the good old days. I haven't watched MSNBC in several months.

[MADem]

52. THE CYCLE killed MSNBC afternoons for me--that Sippy Cupp and crew thing is just like nails on a

chalkboard. I don't mind opinion shows but I prefer intelligent opinions.

Before that show, I used to enjoy MSNBC--now I steer away from it. I like Ed, too.

[Tarheel_Dem]

53. How long has Keith been gone from MSNBC? They did fine without him for years. Why is this an....

issue all of a sudden? They always get a ratings bump in the runup to an election. It's just like the midterms, when Democratic constituencies tune out until the next presidential election. It's who we are. Chris Hayes didn't do it for me in his old slot, and I certainly wasn't gonna tune into him in primetime.

This happened to Fox during the Bush years, when Ailes & Murdoch were threatening to fire his whole nightime lineup. Remember?

[navarth]

55. I don't know if KO's leaving affected their viewership as a whole

but I haven't watched since he left. I continued to like Rachel for a while and I think Chris Hayes is quite good, but...the KO departure and my continuing awareness of MSNBC being owned by a huge war profiteer like GE.....smells too nasty for my sensitive nostrils. Did someone say Comcast owns it now? That doesn't change the smell for the better.

Kudos to Cenk for not selling out. I will still watch Current if I get a chance.

[Paladin]

56. Do you Outrage Burnout victims think the right wing is hampered by Victory Overload? (nt)

[Bill USA]

57. recommended!

[polynomial]

58. We think a like

It is so interesting and powerful to read these comments about MSNBC or some of the Journalist that brought America to this point in history. Like the most of you in this blog I too have a deep affection for Keith Olbermann and miss him very much. But knowing the political and business ties that each Journalist has in this news theater is something that makes anyone wonders with the deepest skepticism about the basic integrity of MSNBC.

My personal opinion is a reflection about Andrea Mitchell also a huge factor in this circus news act in MSNBC. After finding out that Andrea is wife of former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Allen Greenspan just rocked me, stupefied me, if anyone could match a Federal data base of citizen information to current metafiles Andrea Mitchell certainly could with a depth and breadth no one could compete with. That’s why for me it is easy to suggest all these Journalists are hardwired to an extent to this NSA secret stuff. It is so appalling and disgusting.

Anyone could understand in the constant display of lock up every weekend is an endorsement of the one percent to generate fear to hold down retribution to instill in the ordinary citizen fright. It is the plan to keep the citizen in place with fear, with terror of going to any jail lock up, and the possibility even to be water boarded, or sent to prison for whistle blowing.

The American system is so skewed; corrupt with deception, here now in real time the media with all its power is the key for any moment President Obama might suggest to happen. This media will twist and turn for the one percent. We all witnessed a division of America deliberate with intention, as I listen to the hate radio about Trayvon ongoing developing more hate and more division by Ed and Limbaugh, it all is disgusting.

From my view, even being a white man, and even voting for Obama two times, still believe we can turn the tide. It’s all in the vote.

I dream, just as MLK, or just as Morgan Freeman in the movie displayed support for Robin Hood played by Kevin Costner, pleading to the crowd I support this man help him fight for freedom, in the same way support President Obama, stand in line with dignity and calm, help each other go the poles and overwhelm the vote for Democracy.

[Fearless]

59. It's less about him being gone then

The fact that those who replaced him were weaker tv personalities, Rachael aside. Had stronger candidates emerged we wouldn't be having this discussion.