It was a Psaki bomb.
Former Biden press secretary Jen Psaki tanked with a key demographic in her new show’s second episode — indicating possible trouble for her future ratings.
Her new gig features her show “The Briefing” in MSNBC’s prime time slot, at 9 p.m. on Tuesdays through Fridays, while “The Rachel Maddow Show” pivots to only being on air Mondays.
“The Briefing” had a strong showing of 1.2 million viewers on Tuesday, with 139,000 viewers in the key demographic of people ages 25 to 54.
But viewership quickly dropped Wednesday, with 1 million viewers tuning in — and just 65,000 people in the coveted demographic tuning in, according to Fox News.
For comparison, Fox News’ Sean Hannity got 2.64 million viewers on Tuesday at 9 p.m. with 312,000 in the highly desired demographic, while CNN’s Kaitlan Collins eked out 468,000 total viewers but scored 75,000 people ages 25 to 54 watching.
The former press secretary had left her job at the White House in 2022 to pursue a gig at the liberal outlet, and began hosting “Inside with Jen Psaki” on Sundays in March 2023.
Rachel Maddow had been the featured host in the 9 p.m. slot five nights a week during President Trump’s first 100 days, but retreated to Mondays as Psaki got the more prominent gig.
Maddow had predicted Psaki will do “better” than her in the spot due to her knowledge of Washington and her previous stint at the White House.
“The thing she has which I do not have, which is going to make 9 o’clock better with Jen Psaki than it is with Rachel Maddow, is that she both knows people and knows how to talk to people,” Maddow told People in an interview published Tuesday.
“I really am a weird little hermit who works great with my staff, but I don’t know anybody in Washington. I don’t know anybody in the news, and it’s on purpose.”
But Maddow had managed to bring in better numbers when she held the prime spot.
The host averaged a total of 1.9 million viewers and 141,000 among viewers aged 25-54, per Fox, meaning that Psaki’s Wednesday episode had brought down the number of viewers by a total of 46% and 54% in the important demo.
The Wednesday episode had so few 25-54 aged viewers it came behind reruns of shows like “Friends,” “Seinfeld,” “Everybody Loves Raymond,” “Bob’s Burgers,” and “That 70s Show,” as well as “Paw Patrol,” per the outlet.
The former Biden spokesperson is a fierce Trump critic and has continued to speak out against his administration, telling Rolling Stone in an interview this week that his second term is “the most dangerous presidency in my lifetime.”
It’s “not just because of what he’s doing day to day,” she said, “but because his desire seems to be to reshape how our government works, how our system works, to impact things for decades to come.”
She told the outlet she’s looking forward to platforming “emerging” Democratic voices like progressive Democrat Greg Casar, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, and others who may be in the party’s “next generation of leaders.”
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