Stunt or no stunt, it worked ... for a night.
Keith Olbermann’s return to the cable airwaves on Tuesday following a two-day suspension for making campaign contributions drew a big audience for MSNBC -- and boosted ratings for, perhaps, the network’s bigger star: Rachel Maddow.
Tuesday’s episode of “Countdown” was watched by 1.5 million total viewers, according to Nielsen -- about 50 percent more than his normal nightly audience.
"Had I known this would happen,” Olbermann said of the media attention while opening his Tuesday show, “I would have done this years ago!”
The 8:00 p.m. spike helped Maddow draw 1.3 million at 9. Maddow currently averages about 953,000 a night, according to the Washington Post, citing Nielsen.
It’s worth noting, however, that Maddow edged Olbermann in the key 25-to-54-year-old demographic, with about 439,000 viewers in that age range to his 426,000.
But the boost for Olbermann had little effect on Fox News. The size of Bill O’Reilly’s audience on Tuesday was more than double that of Olbermann. O’Reilly's "Factor" drew roughly 3,795,000 total viewers, per Nielsen figures, and 898,000 in the 25-54-year-old demo -- tops on cable news in both categories.
CNN’s sputtering “Parker Spitzer” lagged well behind both Olbermann and O’Reilly, with 472,000 total viewers and just 132,000 in the key demo.
