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There is a serious shakeup happening at MSNBC and things are not going well there. Things are not going well at cnn. But you know where things are going really well? Right here. Progressive independent media is blowing up. So let me sort of set this all up for you. MSNBC over the weekend announces a major programing overhaul. Joy Reid is out. Her show is canceled after five years. I've never seen it, to be honest, but it's canceled. I think the ratings weren't awesome. That show is going to be replaced with a panel show hosted by Simone Sanders, Alicia Menendez and Michael Steele. Is that a show that's likely to do well? I have absolutely no idea. Doesn't appeal to me. But maybe there's people that that appeals to in the cable ratings. Fox is dominating. MSNBC is struggling. CNN is struggling. Fox, I mean, they're just killing.
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They're absolutely killing MSNBC. CNN lagging very far behind. MSNBC is averaging 734,000 viewers. CNN 522,000 primetime viewers in January. Post election ratings. MSNBC down 53%. CNN down 47%. But both of these networks are really struggling to recover in the prime demographic. They are down. It's just not good. And Fox's dominance is even extending beyond conservatives. More Democrats are now watching Fox News. More independents are now watching Fox News relative to MSNBC and cnn. So MSNBC is going to try to fix this. They brought back Rachel Maddow to try to boost ratings. It did temporarily boost ratings in January, but still MSNBC and CNN recorded their lowest ever January ratings in the key demographic of 25 to 54 year olds. Meanwhile, things are not good at CNN. CNN is cutting 6% of its staff. Jim Acosta left, They're shifting to Digital Media. And CNN's primetime lineup did rebound from the post election bottom during January, but it's still not good now.
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Meanwhile, independent progressive media is on the rise. Traditional cable news is struggling. The David Pakman show is experiencing some of the most rapid growth we've had in a long time. In fact, last week we had our three best consecutive days for new subscribers in more than three months. Insane. Something like 25,000 new YouTube subscribers in just a few days. And this is really highlighting a shift that's going on towards independent platforms. So let me tell you what I think is really going on here. One of the interpretations of the MSNBC CNN decline is that progressives, Democrats, the left, however you want to characterize it, are demoralized from the election results and therefore people are tuning out. The problem with that assessment is that it's not happening to the independent media sources. In the few days after the November election, we did see a decline. It's long over.
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Unknown A
We ended up having a solid December, our best January ever. And this month, February is on track to be the best February ever. So it can't possibly be that progressives are just tuning out because progressive independent media is growing. The Midas Touch podcast has surpassed Joe Rogan as the most listened to podcast in the category. That is a big, big deal. So here's what I believe is going on. There is a degree to which viewers of CNN and MSNBC are not engaging with the formats and they're not engaging with the people they see. This is not everybody, right? Like Rachel Maddow really does seem to have the connection with the audience, but a lot of the people in these sort of, you know, anodyne antiseptic feeling, it's like the equivalent of the fluorescent lighting at a doctor's office. A lot of people aren't feeling that it is genuine to, to the degree that a lot of the independent content is.
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This is not about me patting myself on the back. I think it's the format. I think something about the format of all of these sorts of shows are. It's, it's working at a time when people look at the corporate media format and go, we don't think that that's useful to us politically. So there is a definite shift here happening ideologically when it comes to what sorts of media do I believe is really speaking to me rather than speaking at me. And so the upside to this is that while Fox News continues to dominate the right side of the political spectrum, it's conceivable that the future of progressive media lies in the hands of the independent creators, where we can innovate, we can try new things, we can connect with audiences in different ways. I hate to say it, but corporate media seems to be part of the problem.
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Unknown A
The sane washing that people are seeing after Trump loses his mind on stage and then they cut to CNN and they go, a very spirited Donald Trump, spirited. It was demented. You've got to call it what it is. The sane washing isn't working. Now, what does that mean for progressive independent media? It depends if and when and to what degree the Trump administration sets its sights on us. And we talked about that last week and that could potentially get very ugly. So the best thing to do, just support the shows you like. It doesn't have to be this one. I, I know I'm not everybody's Favorite. You know, the mustache last week was a problem for some people. And then one day I had a shawl collar and that really threw some people off. And I still get emails. David, your eyes are too close together.
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They're too far apart. It's a real problem. It doesn't have to be this show. If it's another one, support a different show. Make sure you're subscribed on YouTube to the shows that you like. If they have a membership program, understand that if you have cable, you funding Fox News. Okay. We do have to fund the alternatives if we want them to succeed. If we do those things and we're ready for the potential legal onslaughts, I think we're going to be in very good shape. We have a fantastic bonus show for you today. Every federal employee got an email from Doge saying, tell us the five things you've been working on recently. And it seems as though this is a pretext to fire and lay off even more people. We will discuss it. Pope Francis is in critical condition with early kidney failure. And now we have yet another one of these potential inflection points as far as the Catholic Church is concerned.
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And the Associated Press is now suing three Trump administration officials, citing freedom of speech. We will talk about what the lawsuits are over and so much more. All of it on today's bonus show. How do you get the bonus show? The bonus show where you want to make money. Everybody else that makes money to fund themselves is bad. Get the bonus show. Every time someone signs up, Alex Jones sheds a tear. He hates the bonus show. You sign up@join pacman.com it's that simple. Producer Pat will join me. Everybody's going to join me. And we will discuss. And remember, we are heading towards 3 million YouTube subscribers. Hit that subscribe button and we will very soon, very quickly. I predict we will very soon hit that 3 million number. See you on the bonus show. See you back here tomorrow. Winter is the perfect time to cozy up at home with some freshly baked treats like flaky pastries, hearty breads, comforting pastas.
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