'Countdown' Premiere Tops CNN in Key Demo

Olbermann's return draws 179,000 adults 25-54 to Current TV

By Andrea Morabito -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/21/2011 8:09:51 PM

The premiere broadcast of Countdown with Keith Olbermann on Current TV drew 179,000 viewers in the advertiser-targeted adults 25-54 demo at 8 p.m. on Monday.

Countdown's ratings also beat those of CNN's In the Arena, which averaged 89,000 viewers in the demo, according to numbers provided by Current, though that program's host, Eliot Spitzer, is on vacation this week.

The ratings fell short of those at Olbermann's former network, MSNBC, which had 237,000 viewers in the key advertiser demo for Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell.

Current did not provide total viewer ratings for Countdown's premiere.

Olbermann has gone out of his way to downplay ratings expectations, saying on a conference call last Friday that he is not concerned with the early results. "We're very pleased," Olbermann said in a statement Monday. "But like I said last week, it's one night. We'll need a couple of weeks to know where we're starting, and we're truly interested in next year and especially 2013."