Viewers have been leaving MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” in droves since co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski revealed Monday that they descended on Mar-a-Lago to meet with President-elect Donald Trump, according to the latest numbers of Nielsen.
Scarborough and Brzezinski, who have been highly critical of Trump, stunned their audience Monday morning when they announced they traveled to his Palm Beach estate to “re-communicate” with the president-elect.
Nielsen data shows that less than an hour after they gave their reasoning for the trip, viewers were changing the channel and leaving MSNBC, according to Mediaite.
Between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. ET, “Morning Joe” viewership dropped 17% — from 839,000 to 694,000.
In the 25-54 age group, which is most coveted by advertisers, viewership fell by 38% – from 113,000 people to 70,000.
In the 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. hour, the audience increased somewhat as viewership reached 775,000 people.
But ratings fell in the 9am to 10am hour as the audience shrank to 770,000 viewers.
The post has sought comment from MSNBC.
Scarborough and Brzezinski came under fire from both liberals and conservatives this week, who accused them of hypocrisy for routinely denouncing Trump, only to seek his company after he was elected.
The Daily Show host Jon Stewart mocked the pair for rushing to meet with Trump after the pair parroted Democrats who called him a danger to democracy and compared him to Hitler.
Nikki Haley, the former Republican presidential candidate, lashed out at the “Morning Joe” co-hosts on Monday — accusing them of currying favor with Trump to boost their ratings.
Ana Navarro and Sunny Hostin, co-hosts of ABC’s “The View,” were critical of the meeting, saying Scarborough and Brzezinski were not real journalists.
Hostin said she didn’t think it was necessary to go and “kiss his ring” to be able to properly cover Trump.
The unnamed MSNBC staffers were also furious with the two for appearing “cowardly” to hold the meeting, which was “disgusting but frankly not surprising.”
But the Morning Joe husband-and-wife team dismissed the criticism, with Scarborough insisting they were “here to report on it and hopefully provide you with insights that will better equip us all to understand these deeply troubling times.”
MSNBC has seen its ratings plummet in the days following Trump’s election victory two weeks ago.
The Comcast-owned cable network’s primetime viewership fell 54% while its average daily viewership fell to 736,000 — from 1.1 million last month.
The declines are a sharp turnaround from Election Day, when MSNBC’s election night coverage, anchored by Rachel Maddow, averaged 6 million viewers, beating CNN’s 5.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen data.
The crackdown on “Morning Joe” comes as big changes are afoot at MSNBC parent Comcast, which announced Wednesday it plans to spin off cable TV network NBCUniversal in a reorganization driven by the growth of digital streaming.
Comcast shares rose about 1.7% in premarket trading after the company said it would spin off its entertainment and news channels, including MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Oxygen, E!, Syfy and the Golf Channel.
Comcast will retain several NBC entertainment, sports and news properties, along with Peacock’s streaming service, its theme parks, and film and television studios.
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