This week, Keith Olbermann debuted his Countdown show on Current TV, having left MSNBC earlier this year. According to Nielsen numbers released by Current, Countdown's Monday night debut attracted 179,000 viewers between the ages of 25-54. It was an impressive showing for Current, a cable channel whose primetime audience in the past has hovered around 30,000 viewers.
Countdown did well enough to beat out its CNN competition in the 8 p.m. time slot. What's also telling is how, in just one night, Olbermann managed to completely obliterate the ratings of Fox's Eric Bolling, whose nightly Fox Business show continues to be mired in a ratings wasteland.
We recently detailed Bolling's Nielsen woes and how the rising Fox News star seems to failing upward under Roger Ailes. And we noted that for the all-important 25-54 demo, Bolling's nightly program this spring averaged just 14,000 viewers. (For the record, there are 122 million 25-54 year-olds in America; just 14,000 of them watch Bolling.)
So, 179,000 demo viewers for Current newcomer Olbermann vs. 14,000 demo viewers for established Fox anchor Bolling.
What must also be embarrassing for Bolling is that Fox Business and Current TV are available in roughly the same number of cable homes in America; 60 million. It's just that early on at least, a lot more people are watching Olberman than are watching Bolling.