Maddow rivals King’s numbers

Rachel Maddow, MSNBC’s newest pundit, continues to score for the cable news channel. In this month, her 6 p.m. program beat CNN’s “Larry King Live” among 25- to 54-year-olds, the key advertising demographic -- the first time that MSNBC has beaten CNN at that hour.

Among all viewers, Maddow wasn’t far behind, drawing an average of 1.89 million to King’s 1.96 million, according to Nielsen Media Research. They were both surpassed by Fox News’ Sean Hannity, who held on to first place with an average of 3.26 million viewers for the month.

Coverage of the 2008 presidential race lifted all the cable news channels this month. Nearly 4 million people on average watched Fox News in prime time during weekdays, a boost of 145% over October 2007. CNN pulled in 2.56 million viewers in prime time, up 213%, while MSNBC attracted 2 million, a spike of 274%.

-- Matea Gold