As a political analyst, author, and host, Joy Reid is known for asking the questions others shy away from and pushing people to tell the truth despite what side of the political spectrum they’re on. The Harvard graduate began her career in radio at Radio One and later transitioned into digital reporting for local and national outlets such as The Grio and the Miami Herald. In short, Reid is a Woman of Power.
And now, thanks to Reid and her team, in 2018, AM Joy scored their third straight year of growth on weekends. And the show became the No. 1 show in African American total viewers across all cable during the time period of Jan. 1 – Dec. 30, 2018.
In fact, according to Nielsen, MSNBC finished 2018 as the most-watched cable network among African Americans for the second year in a row. In sales day (Monday-Sunday 6am-2am), MSNBC averaged 255,000 African American total viewers and was No.1 among all cable networks (ahead of No. 2 BET, No. 3 ESPN, No. 4 ADSM, No. 5 CNN, and No. 62 FOX News). MSNBC was the only cable network in the Top 15 to grow (+2%) in the demographic compared to the same time period in 2017. In addition, MSNBC was the most-watched cable network among African Americans during prime (Monday–Friday 8-11pm).
Having blown other networks out of the water, MSNBC became the No. 1 cable news network in prime in December and beat FOX News for the first time in 17 years as the No.1 cable news network for the week of Dec. 17.
With strong reporters like Reid, Trymaine Lee, and a host of journalists of color—the network has been able to establish a strong presence and sense of credibility within the black community. Now more than ever, society is in need of reliable reporting—and MSNBC has proven that they are committed to delivering the truth.