Tomorrow at noon ET, the second episode of the new MSNBC show “Inside with Jen Psaki” featuring the former White House press secretary will air. Will it top the strong, 1.1 million-viewer debut of the first episode?
According to Wrap, the show’s debut nearly doubled CNN’s audience for the same time slot and landed it in the No. 1 spot in the “key” cable demographic of adults age 24 to 54, per Nielsen figures. It was also MSNBC’s most watched weekend premiere in more than four years.
Psaki left her role as press secretary for President Joe Biden's administration last May. Previously, she served as White House Communications Director from 2015 to 2017 and as spokesperson for the Department of State. She held various press and communications roles in the White House under President Barack Obama and has been a contributor for CNN.
In addition to ranking No. 1 in a key demographic, “Inside with Jen Psaki” brought MSNBC its highest weekend ratings since the midterm elections. However, the show still lagged slightly behind “Fox News Live” in total viewers.
“As all news networks struggle to retain audiences (particularly younger audiences), clearly MSNBC is hoping that Psaki will be poised to transition to larger roles at the network, akin to Nicolle Wallace, now a daytime mainstay,” said Deadline.
Per Variety, Wallace – the former White House Communications Director for President George W. Bush – started as an analyst with NBC News. She currently leads two hours a day at MSNBC.
Before Psaki’s show premiered, MSNBC’s show in the dame time slot brought in 573,000 total viewers. Apart from the new program, other changes to the MSNBC lineup were implemented last weekend.
“Network president Rashida Jones [shifted] Ali Velshi and Katie Phang’s hours and [expanded] Jonathan Capehart’s hours,” in restructuring moves that began last month, said Wrap.
Psaki is also “expected to appear across MSNBC’s regular and special coverage programming, including 2024 presidential election coverage, and will remain a principal voice in NBC News’ primetime coverage of major political events,” the outlet added.
According to Variety, Psaki’s greatest challenges going forward are adapting her style for cable TV and convincing audiences that she isn’t partisan.
“I do think there is a space and a place for engaged... discussion and debate,” she said according to the outlet. “That’s something during the Trump era that we lost a bit and I think it’s important to try to bring some of it back.”
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