For all the countdown clocks on cable news and other hype, the television audience for Robert Mueller’s testimony was a bit disappointing. Disgraced lawyer Michael Cohen’s televised testimony outdrew the purported crusader who was supposed to deliver the next illusory knockout blow to President Trump. The Hollywood Reporter:

News coverage of special counsel Robert Mueller's testimony before Congress Wednesday drew a sizable audience — but not as big as some other recent televised hearings.

The 7 1/2 hours of hearings, from 8:15 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. ET, drew an average of just under 13 million viewers (12.98 million) on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC.

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Because relatively few viewers would be able to watch all 7 ½  hours, there must have been far more than 13 million total viewers who watched some of it. So, the total number of viewers who saw the evidence that Mueller was out-of-touch, stumbling, and obviously not the real head of the probe could be quite a lot more. Add in the people who saw clips of the testimony on news programs and online, and a goof portion of the voting public is aware that the public was sold a false bill of goods about a “man of unquestioned integrity” leading a fair and thorough investigation of nefarious interference in our elections.  

By comparison:

The 13 million viewers falls short of some other recent televised hearings: Former Donald Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, for instance, drew about 16 million viewers when he testified before Congress in February. Ex-FBI Director James Comey's 2017 appearance before Congress attracted 19.5 million and Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court confirmation hearing averaged 20 million viewers.  

This strongly suggests to me that the public already had caught on that “there was no there there,” when it came to the probe’s results. They realized in advance that the written report had no smoking guns, and the fanatic House Democrats were staging a propaganda exercise.

Interestingly, generally pro-Trump Fox News was the number one source of viewership for the exercise, and anti-Trump MSNBC was second. The broadcast networks lagged, and at the bottom was CNN.

Fox News led the field for Wednesday's coverage with an average of just over 3 million viewers for the hearings. MSNBC averaged 2.41 million; followed by ABC, 2.12 million; NBC, 1.99 million; CBS, 1.91 million; and CNN, 1.52 million.

All in all, television viewers delivered another blow to the fanatic Trump haters who lust after impeachment. They’re just not that interested in what they were trying to peddle.

Hat tip: Roger Luchs