MS Now Surpasses 80 Million Podcast Downloads In First Half.

The cable network MS Now reports it had more than 11 million audio downloads in June, with another strong month for its original series. It says downloads for series that aren’t on-demand versions of its television shows doubled vs. a year earlier based on Simplecast Analytics data.

The June gains were made by shows including “Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast,” “The Best People with Nicolle Wallace” and “Main Justice” with network legal analysts Andrew Weissmann and Mary McCord. But the best performer was the audio version of MS Now’s morning show. It says “Morning Joe” was MS Now’s most downloaded podcast for the month, with downloads up 80% year over year.

The gains continue the momentum MS Now has seen since the beginning of the year. The left-leaning cable network recorded more than 35.8 million total podcast downloads in the first quarter. With the second quarter in the books, it says it has recorded more than 80 million audio downloads during the first six months of the year.

The success of podcasts has led MS Now to not only embrace podcasting online but make more time for the shows on its TV schedule. After adding a best-of Crooked Media podcast show to its weekend schedule in March, MS Now last month announced it would fill its weekends with episodes of the podcasts “Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast” and “The Best People with Nicolle Wallace.”

Parent Versant earlier announced that half of viewers of the Crooked Media show were new to MS Now on Saturday nights, with nearly two-thirds of viewers under 55 also new to the network. The program pulls clips from Crooked shows, including “Pod Save America,” “Lovett or Leave It,” and “Runaway Country with Alex Wagner.”

Starting this week, viewers will also notice a visual upgrade as “Pod Save America” has debuted a refreshed studio in their latest episode, which Crooked says reflects an exciting new chapter ahead of a busy election cycle.

When MS Now chief Rebecca Kutler announced the new podcast-on-weekend TV strategy last months, she told staff in a memo that the move is in response to how well the “Crooked on MS Now” has performed.

“It was our strongest launch for a taped series among total viewers in three years and our strongest launch in the demo in more than four years,” Kutler writes. “Throughout the summer, we will expand our taped strategy and announce new content partnerships. More on that soon.”