MEDIA LOSER: MSNBC's Symone Sanders
Symone Sanders' new show on MSNBC had it all: a well-known host who just left a presidential administration, heaps of promotion, a plump timeslot, and a splashy first guest. It still flopped in the ratings. With a paltry 29,000 in-demo viewers, and 361,000 total viewers according to Nielsen ratings, the debut episode was a small affair. Sanders is a former press secretary for Vice President Kamala Harris. Before that she was an adviser to President Joe Biden's campaign. Her previous political job was as national press secretary for the Bernie Sanders campaign. In between those gigs, she was a CNN contributor. Now, after them, she's an MSNBC host - soon to be joined at the company by current White House press secretary Jen Psaki. The network's January announcement of the new show was an early move in a larger shuffling of the line-up following the departure of Brian Williams. By way of comparison, the Symone premiered in third, and that 361k total was dwarfed by Fox's 842,000 at 4pm. The former administration official's first big interview was with First Lady Jill Biden. Mediaite's Colby Hall this week is raising questions about the revolving door phenomenon. Viewers may turn out to have the same questions, too. Should they turn up at some point. |