MSNBC beats CNN in Thursday ratings

CNN was left trailing in third place on Thursday night in yet another twist to the ongoing cable news ratings war in America.

Numbers posted by MediaBistro's TVNewser blog show MSNBC holding a lead over CNN from 7pm onwards. By 1am, TVNewser's stats show 180,000 households tuned into MSNBC and only 76,000 watching CNN.

MSNBC's 7pm political show, Hardball, has been nipping at the heels of - and occasionally beating - CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 for some time, likely due to an uptick in political interest during the convention season in the US. These numbers, however, show Countdown beating Paula Zahn at 8pm, Deborah Norville Tonight unusually placing ahead of Larry King Live, and Scarborough Country taking the lead over NewsNight with Aaron Brown. As TVNewser goes on to point out, whether or not this is a fluke remains to be seen.

Fox News Channel continues to place first, however, with ratings for both total day and primetime far ahead of those posted by either of its rivals.