Chuck Todd‘s return to MSNBC show-hosting with the debut of MTP Daily yesterday clocked 483K total viewers, 76K in the news demo. In MSNBC’s 5 PM ET time slot this calendar year, The Ed Show had been averaging 487K viewers and 62K news-demo viewers. Since The Ed Show was pulled and the network filled the slot with MSNBC Live, it has averaged 463K and 56K, respectively.
In launching MTP Daily, Todd ran the rest of his sit-down with Hillary Clinton – the non-email-question bits – having begun the broadcast of that interview on Sunday’s Meet The Press.
“If it’s Monday, it’s the first one-on-one in two years for President Obama with Vladimir Putin,” Todd said in the show opening, getting right down to business. “The tension is high and the topic is important: the subject is Syria. Nothing is impossible. After all, today’s the day NASA found water on Mars.”
He took a moment to explain the show name: By the way, in case you hadn’t figured it out, MTP is how many of us here at NBC News have shorthanded our Sunday show…so we made it part of our new name and we aim to give you the kind of news and insight, five nights a week, that we like to think has been making history on Sundays since the start of television in this country.”
Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy.