Politics
NEW: Jen Psaki’s Primetime Debut Flops Badly
Jen Psaki’s new primetime show stumbled out of the gate last week, according to a ratings slump that’s underscoring how challenging it will be to fill the shoes of longtime host Rachel Maddow.
The former Biden spokeswoman was elevated last month when MSNBC announced that she would be moving from Maddow’s lead-in to filling her 9 p.m. role entirely, a meteoric rise for one of the cable news channel’s newest faces. But “The Briefing,” her new offering, is suffering from anemic numbers among the key 25-54 age demographic.
Her second episode, which aired Wednesday, pulled in just 65,000 25-54-year-olds, down from 139,000 the night before, according to Fox News. Total viewership overall was down between 1 and 1.2 million.
The drop represents a 53% decline in the demographic prized by advertisers in just two episodes.
Instead, viewers were tuning in to reruns of “Friends,” “Seinfeld,” and “Paw Patrol,” all of which outpaced Psaki with younger audiences, the outlet stated.
After nearly 20 years on air, Maddow announced in March that she would be stepping back from nightly reports, instead hosting just once a week on Monday while Psaki was awarded the coveted 9 p.m. slot from Tuesday to Friday. At the time, Maddow praised Psaki as a consummate Beltway insider capable of obtaining scoops and offering eagle-eyed — albeit slanted — analyses of the news cycle.
But while Maddow was able to boast a regular audience of 2 million, Psaki has struggled to match just half of that, Fox reports.
She is continuing to lean into her progressive posture, as she did this week when she referred to the second Trump administration as “the most dangerous presidency in my lifetime.” She has dedicated portions of her early programming to spotlighting rising stars in the party, such as Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) and Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, according to the Daily Caller.
Psaki’s struggles come as MSNBC executives are urging their on-air talent to tone down the Trump hate and stressing that longtime viewers are tired of the doom and gloom. Instead, Psaki and her peers are being encouraged to inject more “hopeful news” into her coverage.
Other instructions include hosting guests with competing viewpoints, akin to the CNN roundtables featuring conservative Scott Jennings that have mined viral gold. Breaking news banners should not appear as though every move by Trump is a five-alarm fire, executives have stated.
The stakes are high, given MSNBC’s corporate separation from NBC as Comcast works to position the liberal network into a profitable standalone. Network president Rebecca Kutler has been pushing her talent stable to branch out beyond their comfort zones, taking to TikTok or personalized subscription services where viewers may gain more exclusive access for a monthly fee.
Psaki cautioned that the transition to the top of the talent pool could be bumpy.
“I could never be Rachel even if I trained for five years in Rachel Maddow bootcamp, so all I can be is myself,” Psaki told Politico after the rotation was announced. “I come from 20 years of experience in government and politics. I want people to see it…as a real talk place where I’m going to give them a sense of what’s happening.”
