I was prompted to pursue an understanding of gender composition in TV audiences the other evening when Chris Matthews said that women comprise half the audience of Hardball.

Given how many educated women can’t stand Chris Matthews, this assertion surprised me. His egocentric, me-me-me approach to commentary, and especially his relentless beating the same dead horse every night with Palin and Bachmann failing American history and also the birthers issue, I was surprised to hear Matthews say his audience is half women.

So I went looking for the neutral research facts and they didn’t surprise me.

If the Hardball audience is half women, then the show has enjoyed a mighty big swing since the Pew Research Center issued a major analysis in September 2011. We wrote previously that Rachel Maddow has been hot, hot, hot for MSNBC, but not Matthews.

I do believe that especially under new owners, and perhaps because AOC has been very vocal and consistent in calling Chris out, more moderation is part of his new approach. It seems that Chris is doing a better job of letting people finish their sentences and not talking over all his ‘experts’. To date, these changes have lasted a few days at a time, and then the old Chris takes over again. We’re hoping for more permanent progress.

News Show Audiences By Gender

Who is Listening, Watching, Reading — and Why Pew Research Center for the People and the Press

According to Pew Research’s exhaustive look at audience demographics for key TV shows, issued on Sept. 12, 2010, Hardball’s audience was only 42% women and 58% male. I don’t call that audience split ‘half women’, and I don’t like commentators making rounding errors of this magnitude.

For someone who calls Sarah Palin ‘profoundly stupid’, Matthews must check his math.

What made the biggest impression on me is that fact that the three shows I dislike the most are Rush Limbaugh, the departed Keith Obermann’s Countdown and Hardball. There is no comparison between the information I learn from Rachel Maddow vs Hardball, where I learn nohting.

The Rachel Maddow Show beat Piers Morgan Tonight for the month of May among all key demos, marking the 16th consecutive monthly win over CNN in total viewers. Maddow beat CNN by 35% in A25-54 (336,000 vs. 248,000) and by 34% in total viewers (1.064 million vs. 793,000). This is the best A25-54 performance for TRMS since March 2009. Compared to May 2010, Maddow has grown in all key demos including a 37% increase in A25-54 and 11% growth among total viewers. “The Rachel Maddow Show” is also ranked No. 1 among younger viewers, topping both Fox News Channel and CNN in A18-34.

For me the ideologues are tearing apart our country and that includes Limbaugh, Matthews and Obermann.

Viewers exist to listen to them rant. Limbaugh and Obermann had a 60% male audience in September 2010; and Hardball had a 58% male audience. This audience profile fits the research confirming that women are more solution-oriented, problem solvers and men are ideologues. Guys apparently prefer the shoe pounding on the desk.

This is why Congress is deadlocked but we prefer to have men run America.

May 2011 Update

Looking for followup information that is current, CNN writes that Hardball has fallen to third place in the key demographic, for this time slot but not total viewers where Hardball still leads. From MSNBC: Hardball with Chris Matthews at 7 p.m. beat CNN’s John King USA in total viewers (751,000 vs. 664,000). Mediaite writes also that Matthews is down against CNN in the best demo (25-54) viewers at both 5pm and 7pm.

FOX News continues to lead in total ratings. Greta Van Susteren’s On the Record was off 12 percent in May and Glenn Beck was off 30% in the key demo. The O’Reilly Factor continues as the top cable news program and FOX dominates the top 12 news shows in May 2011 until The Rachel Maddow Show clocks in with 1.064 million total viewers.

My favorite night show In the Arena with Eliot Spitzer was up 33% in May, which is great. The new format is much better and I learn major information in the show, where there is no bad boy behavior, just serious talk and analysis of events and problems. Anderson Cooper is also on fire at CNN, and we all know that Cooper is also a more serious, fact-seeking journalist.

I respect Eliot Spitzer and CNN for openly acknowledging often, Spitzer’s past problems during the Anthony Weiner show segments.

The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell topped CNN’s In the Arena by 35% in A25-54 (266,000 vs. 197,000) and 61% in total viewers (1.002 million vs. 624,000). Compared to MSNBC in May 2010, The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” is up 6% in A25-54.

Note that I have no issue with Lawrence O’Donnell; I just prefer In The Arena. Note also that MSNBC didn’t lose the Obermann audience going to the more mild-mannered and civil O’Donnell.

If I am wrong about Chris Matthews and Hardball not having a 50% female audience, MSNBC is welcome to contact me and I will write a story that clarifies my error. Anne

More Chris Matthews:

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Rachel Maddow vs Chris Matthews | Maddow’s Brains Win Hands Down AOC FP

Chris Matthews | Why Will a ‘Guy’, Not a ‘Gal’ Invent the Next Sputnik? AOC Sexual Politics