With Ricky Gervais, CNN’s Piers Morgan Beats Maddow, Can’t Close Gap With Hannity

Cable news ratings, January 20, 2011:

•The gang at CNN’s just-launched Piers Morgan Tonight had hoped booking Ricky Gervais, who was the story coming out of Sunday’s Golden Globes, would give the fledgling show another shot at first place. Instead, the ratings were solid–in second place in terms of total viewers and viewers 25-54–but not big enough to beat timeslot winner Sean Hannity.

Piers Morgan attracted 279,000 viewers in the advertiser-coveted demographic of 25-54, a bump of 40,000 viewers from the previous night’s show, with less buzzworthy guest Condoleezza Rice. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow was third with 264,000. Morgan goes for starpower tonight with guest George Clooney.

•The Piers Morgan bump may not be knocking off Fox’s Hannity anytime soon, but it could threaten the second-place status of MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell. Thanks to the suddenly-more-competitive lead-in from PMT, CNN’s AC 360 closed to within 3,000 viewers 25-54 of O’Donnell’s Last Word.

Here’s the full scoreboard:

TV NEWS RATINGS: 25-54 DEMOGRAPHIC (L +SD)
5 pm	Beck 377	Blitzer 103	Matthews 135	Showbiz 94
6 pm	Baier 344	Blitzer 119	Ed Show 149	Prime 91
7 pm	Shep 439	King, USA 120	Matthews 147	Issues 126
8 pm	O’Reilly 676	ParkerSpitzer 110	Olbermann 198	Grace 143
9 pm	Hannity 557	Morgan 279	Maddow 264	Missing 148
10 pm	Van Susteren 328	Cooper 238	O’Donnell 241	Behar 105
11 pm	O’Reilly 378	Cooper 142	Olbermann 129	Showbiz 85
TOTAL DAY	300	134	125	109
PRIME TIME	520	211	224	128
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.

TV NEWS RATINGS: TOTAL VIEWERS (L +SD)
5 pm	Beck 1780	Blitzer 498	Matthews 612	Showbiz 236
6 pm	Baier 1940	Blitzer 524	Ed Show 760	Prime 205
7 pm	Shep 1786	King, USA 529	Matthews 700	Issues 341
8 pm	O’Reilly 2918	ParkerSpitzer 522	Olbermann 1106	Grace 632
9 pm	Hannity 2079	Morgan 1025	Maddow 976	Missing 534
10 pm	Van Susteren 1460	Cooper 740	O’Donnell 855	Behar 372
11 pm	O’Reilly 1080	Cooper 418	Olbermann 513	Showbiz 239
TOTAL DAY	1269	454	510	275
PRIME TIME	2153	766	979	502
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data

Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com