April 1 proved more fun for MSNBC than CNN. Both networks saw new primetime launches on Monday night, with Chris Hayes' All In and (Get To) The Point seeing their respective opens bring very different results.
Ed Schultz replacement Hayes made his primetime debut at 8 p.m., bringing in 859,000 total viewers and 298,000 adults 25-54. MSNBC continued to the trail time slot leader -- Scott Brown guest hosted for Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly -- but did see demo gains from Schultz. The Ed Show averaged just 205,000 viewers in the key demo during the first quarter.
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While Hayes saw weeks of promotion following Schultz's well-reported exit, (Get To) The Point premiered on less than a day's notice. It opened to 278,000 viewers and 80,000 in the 25-54 demo. It marked a 2013 time slot low, by both measures, for the network. The first quarter saw the hour's typical offering, a repeat of Anderson Cooper 360, average 520,000 viewers and 170,000 adults 25-54. Those are losses of respective 48 and 54 percent.
The Point is CNN's second series launch under new network topper Jeff Zucker, following the recent addition of The Lead With Jack Tapper. It's being billed a week-long affair, pushing the nightly Anderson Cooper 360 encore to 11 p.m. The panel includes Donny Deutsch, Margaret Hoover, Rick Reilly and Jason Taylor.
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Panel series have proven steady growers for cable news networks in recent years, with The Five opening on FNC and The Cycle coming to MSNBC.
The Five, in particular, has been a tremendous success for Fox. In the first quarter, it placed second to only The O'Reilly Factor across all cable news broadcasts in both total viewers (1.974 million) and the key demo (345,000 adults 25-54).
Cable news programs tend to perform quite differently, night to night, so the real test for both All In and The Point will come later in the week.
