Megyn Kelly made the wrong column of The Hollywood Reporter’s early Fall TV show winners and losers, with her rocky debut week described as falling short of anything momentous.
Based on premiere week ratings released by THR, the former Fox News anchor suffered a 21 percent ratings deficit behind her competitor’s show, “Live with Kelly and Ryan.”
Meanwhile, her former Fox News colleague, Sean Hannity, had the upper hand on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow for their first week head-to-head.
Kelly’s “Today” show debuted to mixed reviews from early responder news sites but her newly introduced “feel good” persona wasn't enough to shake the ratings drop that has plagued her since also losing viewers in "Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly" earlier this year.
USA Today noted that Kelly’s “Today” show averaged 2.5 million viewers for her first full week, which was a 12 percent drop in ratings from last year’s “Today'” in the same week.
The numbers show Kelly started with a viewership of 2.9 million on Monday and dipped to 2.3 million by Wednesday, but did level out for the remainder of the week.
Of course, her ratings come amid reports that premiere week ratings for major broadcast networks may have dropped 16 percent since last year.
"It’s normally difficult to make concrete conclusions after just one week," Sam Armando of media-buying firm SMGx said, per THR.
“But there are a number of [shows] standing out and that's not likely to change — even with time-shifted viewing.”
One such show is CBS’ “Young Sheldon” which effectively reached “Big Bang Theory” audiences, garnering around 21.5 million live-plus-3 viewers and clinching a 5.2 rating among adults 18-to-49.
CBS’ status was further elevated by the strong performance of “SEAL Team” while ABC’s “The Good Doctor” and NBC’s “Will & Grace” reboot rated well.
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