The New Prime Time for TV News: Afternoons

There’s a new prime time in TV news: the afternoons. Since their inception in the mid-1990s, 24-hour cable networks have fixated on the cult of prime time, when megawatt personalities like Keith Olbermann, Megyn Kelly and Rachel Maddow minted loyal fans. Typically, prime-time viewers tune in by appointment, expecting to see a familiar face discuss the news of the day. In 2022, MSNBC’s prime-time audience declined 21 percent from a year prior, and CNN lost 33 percent. “People look for a digest of news as they’re about to eat dinner, and then we’ll send you to more traditional entertainment — written by TV writers as opposed to politicians in Washington.”The post The New Prime Time for TV News: Afternoons appeared first on New York Times.