PRESIDENT TRUMP calls himself the, quote, "ratings machine" . . . and according to a new report, he's had a POSITIVE effect on eight TV shows, and seven of them aren't 'Fox and friendly.' The shows getting a 'Trump bump' are:
1. "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" . . . Jimmy Fallon was regularly beating Colbert until the first full week of the Trump administration, but Colbert won that week, and has been the most-watched show in late night ever since.
2. "The Rachel Maddow Show" . . . Rachel attracted her largest audience ever last month, averaging 2.3 million viewers each night, which is double her viewership from February of 2016.
To be fair, Fox News' lineup still consistently dominates the cable news race in overall audience, although Maddow beat Fox in younger viewers several times last month. Specifically, that's adults under the age of 50.
3. "Saturday Night Live" . . . It's on track to have its top-rated season among adults under 50 in nearly a decade, with an overall average audience that's set to top 11 million viewers per episode . . . its highest ratings in 23 years.
4. CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper" . . . President Trump has been hard on CNN . . . but Jake is doing fine. Last month, his show averaged nearly 1.2 million viewers, surging 60% over a year ago.
5. "Real Time with Bill Maher" . . . The show is up 40% above last year's audience. HBO says it's averaging 5.5 million viewers a week since Trump's inauguration, if you include streaming numbers. So it's now on pace to have its highest rated season since 2003.
6. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" . . . Tucker took over Megyn Kelly's timeslot, and he's been a sensation for Fox News . . . regularly pulling in 3 million viewers. Megyn already had big numbers, but Tucker qualifies for the 'Trump bump' because he's bringing in 45% more younger viewers compared to what Megyn did last February. He's also the only one on this list who's Trump-FRIENDLY.
7. "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah" . . . He's finally getting some ratings momentum after a year and a half into the job. February was the show's most-watched month with Trevor hosting, with an average of 1.5 million viewers.
8. "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee" . . . During the past six weeks, "Full Frontal's" audience among adults under 50 has surged by 92% compared to last year. And TBS says it's averaging 3.4 million viewers per week overall.
(Vulture)