Ronan Farrow, Joy Reid, Maria Bartiromo’s New Shows Debut Soft

New series on MSNBC and Fox Business Network premiered Monday

Ronan Farrow’s long awaited MSNBC debut pulled in soft ratings for the network on a day that saw three major cable news premieres and one big time slot shift.

“Ronan Farrow Daily” drew 216,000 total viewers and 46,000 in the key adults 25 to 54 news demographic in its 1 p.m. ET debut Monday. Those numbers were down from the noon lead-in of NBC News reporter Kristen Welker filling in on “Andrea Mitchell Reports.”

Also read: Ronan Farrow Wonks It Up on MSNBC Debut

Joy Reid’s “The Reid Report,” which followed Farrow at 2 p.m. ET, averaged 262,000 total viewers but only 38,000 in the demo.

Both shows represent year-on-year declines, down an average of 26 percent in total viewers and 52 percent in the demo from the same day in 2013. But for the month of February, MSNBC remained in second place among the cable news networks for total day viewing behind Fox News Channel, with a three percent year-over-year drop in total viewers and a three percent gain in the coveted demo.

Also on Monday, longtime CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo made her Fox Business Network debut with the two-hour “Opening Bell with Maria Bartiromo” at 9 a.m. ET to 75,000 total viewers and 14,000 in the demo.

Also read: Maria Bartiromo’s Fox Business Show Gets Premiere Date, Name

FBN is in about 20 million fewer households than Bartiromo’s previous network.

Stuart Varney’s “Varney & Co.,” which slid to 11 a.m. to make way for Bartiromo’s show, built on the former CNBC anchor’s lead to average 117,000 total viewers and 29,000 in the 25-54 demographic over the 2-hour show.

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