Fox News' Megyn Kelly Did Something MSNBC's President Said Was 'Impossible'

AP

Last week, MSNBC President Phil Griffin said that a ratings bump for Megyn Kelly's "The Kelly File" from Monday to Tuesday was "impossible" - even suggesting that Nielsen run an investigation on Fox News' brand-new 9 p.m. program.

Nielsen did investigate. And it turns out that the bump was legitimate. From the New York Daily News:

The investigation has revealed that the numbers for Kelly are accurate.

Last Tuesday, the day after its debut, "The Kelly File" doubled its audience, crushing "The Rachel Maddow Show," its MSNBC competition.

Overall last week - in the first week of Fox News' new primetime lineup - the network ranked fourth in all of cable networks during the 8-11 p.m. ET primetime period, outpacing competitors MSNBC (20th) and CNN (32nd).

Compared to its third-quarter averages in the expanded 7-11 p.m. ET hours, Fox News last week was up double-digits in both total viewers (23%) and in the key 25-54 age demographic (21%). It was No. 1 among competitors in each hour of primetime programming, according to Nielsen.

"The Kelly File," the new show of the bunch, averaged more than 2.3 million total viewers and almost 400,000 in the 25-54 demographic.