CNN’s new sports show, “Unguarded With Rachel Nichols,” failed to score much in the way of ratings with its Friday premiere.
The series, hosted by CNN and Turner Sports reporter Nichols, debuted at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday with 288,000 total viewers — 92,000 of them in the key 25-54 news demographic, according to preliminary numbers.
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Compared to year-to-date numbers in the timeslot for CNN, that put the show’s premiere down nearly 45 percent in total viewers, with a 50 percent slide in the demo.
It also put CNN in fourth place among the cable news networks in the time period, behind Fox News, MSNBC and CNN’s sister station HLN. Fox took first place with 2.645 million total viewers (a considerable boost over its year-to-date averaged in the timeslot), with 377,000 of them in the demo. The network aired the special “Charles Krauthammer — A Life That Matters” during the timeslot.
MSNBC, running “Up Late With Alec Baldwin,” came in second in total viewers with 452,000 total viewers and took third place in the demo with 125,000.
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HLN, meanwhile, took third in total viewers with 362,000, but was second in the demo with 175,000 with “After Dark.”