MSNBC's Ratings Edge Ends on Wednesday

Carrie Devorah/Wenn/Newscom

The status quo is restored in the cable news wars. After two days of besting Fox News Channel's primetime showing with adults 25-54, MSNBC was runner-up once again on Wednesday night.

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FNC bested MSNBC's demo haul by nearly 80,000 for the three-hour block, pulling 578,000 adults 25-54 over MSNBC's 500,000.

In the battle for top broadcast, Rachel Maddow lost her Tuesday demo crown, falling shy of both Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly and Lawrence O'Donnell's Last Word. The Rachel Maddow Show pulled in 521,000 adults 25-54, shy of Last Word (531,000), The O'Reilly Factor (633,000) and Hannity (643,000).

Among total viewers, Nielsens P2+ scores gave more than a one-million-viewer advantage to Fox. The network averaged 2.736 million in primetime over MSNBC's 1.618 million.