Fox News appears to be caught in a downward spiral from which there is no relief. Ratings just released comparing January 2007 with January 2006, have more bad news for the “Only Cable News Channel That Does Not Bring You The Usual Left Wing Bias.”

Jan. #’s: Total Viewers vs. Jan. 2006:

Jan. #’s: 25-54 Demo vs. Jan. 2006:

In Total Viewers, Fox is, again, the only network that posted a decline. Where they showed increases, they were second only to Headline News for the smallest gain. For some perspective, it must be remembered that comparisons for Fox are much easier because they had already declined so much. Therefore, it doesn’t take much of a boost to register higher percentages. Conversely, the performance of CNN, MSNBC, and CNBC, deserve respect for achieving substantial gains even in comparison to numbers that were already improving a year ago.

Fox will undoubtedly spin the these numbers as positive in their press releases. But their behavior toward insiders is much more revealing. They recently published this trade ad slamming Anderson Cooper:

“Meet the Paris Hilton of Television News”


What the ad neglects to mention is that CNN, prior to Cooper’s tenure, was trailing Fox by 174% in the time slot. Now CNN is only behind 18%. That’s a considerable distance to make up. Fox also forgot to point out that they tried to hire Cooper a few years ago. Charlie Reina, the former Fox producer who tells the story about Fox courting Cooper, makes the astute (and hilarious) observation that:

“for Cooper, whose talents and instincts were in actual news, coming to Fox would be a huge step down professionally.”

And Reina knows what he’s talking about. It’s reminiscent of NBC’s David Shuster, another Fox alum, who said after ankling:

“…there wasn’t a tradition or track record of honoring journalistic integrity. I found some reporters at Fox would cut corners or steal information from other sources or in some cases, just make things up. Management would either look the other way or just wouldn’t care to take a closer look.”

Is it any surprise that Fox would cheerfully devour and regurgitate unverified reports, from disreputable and anonymous sources, about Barack Obama’s childhood schooling? And is it any surprise that the American people are increasingly repelled by this brand of tabloid propagandizing?

LATE BREAKING: O’Reilly did a piece on Katie Couric this evening, saying…

“When you get a 10.5 debut and you’re down to to 7.5 in six months, that’s not going in the right direction.”

He didn’t bother to admit that his own ratings have declined even more on a percentage basis (30%). One of his guests tried to slip it in, but he just plowed through it.

MSNBC has beaten the competition in terms of audience growth consistently for the last twelve months. So it should come as no surprise that MSNBC’s tally for 2006 shows not only the highest gain over 2005, but the only gain amongst cable news networks.

As usual, it was Keith Olbermann’s Countdown that fueled the increase. Countdown was up 60% in total viewers and 67% in the 25-54 demo. Keith’s nemesis, Bill O’Reilly, can still boast about being the number one program on cable news, but those footsteps he hears are not the pitter-patter of the Culture Warrior Youth.

If you kiddies are looking for something constructive to do, here’s a project for you:

Fox News is currently renegotiating its contracts with cable carriers. They have been lumbering under one of the worst deals in the business because they were desperate for carriage when they started out. Now they believe that they are entitled to substantial upgrades. On the surface, they have a pretty good case since they are the top cable news network. But as this marketing burst is coming at a time when they are also the fastest declining network, cable operators should not be bullied into accepting sky high licensing fees. If Fox was stupid enough to lock themselves into low fees in their formative years, cablers should learn from that and not lock themselves into high fees while Fox is sinking.

This would be a good time to write your local cable company and stress that you are not willing to pay more to have continued access to Fox News. Any deal that they make with Fox must not result in an increase of your monthly fees. If that happens, you will quickly cancel and get a dish.

The end result of this is not to keep Fox off of the air. The cable companies are surely going to re-up with the current Nielsen leader. But you can have an impact on their profitability by giving your cable operator the ammunition to bargain Fox down. So sharpen those pencils and let your carrier know that you will not tolerate rate increases to fatten the wallets of a network you don’t even watch.

The train keeps-a-rollin all night long. All week-night long in the cable news ratings, that is.

The latest numbers for the November period show a continuation of a trend that has lasted all year. For ten of the last eleven months, Keith Olbermann’s Countdown has gained viewers while Bill O’Reilly’s Factor sheds them in droves. Countdown improved a whopping 66% compared to O’Reilly’s slump of -17%.

Here are the numbers for network performance in November 2006 as compared November 2005:

Once again, the only declines were posted by Fox. Even where Fox showed improvement, it ranked as the smallest gains of all the networks. The dismal finish by Fox occurred despite expectations for viewer gains due to the mid-term elections and their aftermath. The other networks were able to meet those expectations with strong growth.

Does this foreshadow a bleak winter winter for Fox? Yes, gawd-dammit, it does. And it’s about time.

The irresponsible, journalistically vacant, unethical, propagandizing that is the hallmark of Fox is obviously wearing thin with the American television audience. And as they sink, their desperation is leading them into ever more pathetic theocon-ambulisms. As they struggle to cling to their crumbling empire they resort to inanities like a pilot for a conservative Daily Show, or the memo that sought to console the newsroom ranks by reassurring them that…

“The elections and Rumsfeld’s resignation were a major event but not the end of the world. The war on terror goes on without interruption”

Feel better? I know I sure do.

Ratings for the cable news nets have been released and October 2006 to October 2005 comparisons again look sweet for Countdown.

MSNBC scored hefty gains driven by Olbermann’s 61% rise in viewers 25-54. His total viewer increase was 67%, while O’Reilly’s dropped (again) 22%. Countdown improved more than any of the other news programs. O’Reilly was the 2nd biggest decliner (after Greta). In fact, Olbermann gained more total viewers than all of the other shows combined.

Here are the network numbers for total viewers:

MSNBC chief, Dan Abrams, seems to be learning the right lessons:

“Keith Olbermann is the right person at the right time, and doing it in the right way. This is a really good sign for MSNBC on the whole. I think that we’ve found a voice to some degree.”

I think your audience agrees with you, Dan.

Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes was on the warpath back in June because of his network’s poor performance. Says Ailes:

“Anyone who displays launch-type intensity will continue to have a job at Fox News. Those who don’t will not. And that includes talent.”

Seems like an empty threat in as much as there is no talent at Fox. Be that as it may, Ailes must be firing up the nukes right about now. The August ratings (PDF) are out and, of the top 3 cable news networks, Fox alone has lost viewers. And not just an incremental loss, they are cratering.

Primetime – Persons 2+:

Primetime – 25-54:

What’s worse is that in at least eight consecutive months of year-to-year comparisons, Fox has shown declines and, again, is the only network to have accomplished that feat. The standout contributors to this debacle in August are Greta Van Susteren (-31%), Hannity & Colmes (-21%), and our boy O’Reilly (-15%). For those of you keeping score, Olberman’s Countdown increased 55% over it’s year ago number. So far this year, Olberman’s comparisons have been positive every month while O’Reilly’s have been negative.

As I’ve pointed out in previous analyses, we need to view these figures in context. Fox is still the runaway leader in cable news, but trends are not insignificant. And as CNN’s special on bin Laden last week demonstrated, there is an audience for quality news programming. That’s got to be bad news for Fox.

The jokes are flying across the tubes of the Internets: Osama bin Laden is the next Anderson Cooper.

Last Wednesday’s edition of CNN Presents offered the documentary, “In The Footsteps of bin Laden.” The program handed CNN some of its best ratings all year. It was number one in the time period for both total viewers and the 25-54 demographic.

It will be interesting to see what lesson is learned from this success. CNN has trailed Fox badly for several years. Every attempt to makeover the network has failed to raise its competitive standings. Granted, Fox is not actually a news network. Its menu of propaganda and Jerry Springer-style DC-trash rumbles is less info and more tainment. But still CNN has vainly battled on to return to its perch in the cable news jungle.

So this week, with the news poodle herd chasing John Mark’s Karr down the street, CNN posts a program of substance and social relevance and it kills in the ratings. What are the odds that the editors at CNN will correctly analyze what happened here? Will they conclude that Christiane Amanpour should get a daily primetime talk show? Or will they figure out that there is a news vacuum in America that is crying out to be filled?

Or will the the jokes become reality as the announcement is made that Larry King – Live will be replaced by Osama bin Laden – Alive?

In the July ratings for the cable news networks, Fox continues its steady year-over-year decline. This July’s book includes reporting on the Israel/Lebanon conflict. Breaking news events like this spike ratings for news programs. So when comparing this year’s July book with last year’s, it is important to note that there was no comparable news event in July of 2005. That means that the comparisons with this year would have been even worse, but for the boost caused by current events.

UPDATE: Here is an hourly breakdown (PDF) of the numbers by demo and program, with comparisons to 2005.

Total Day – 25-54 Demo:

Primetime – 25-54 Demo:

The severe decline in the Fox and Headline News primetime schedules suggests a possible audience fatigue for the bloviating pundits that populate those dayparts. That includes Bill O’Reilly, Hannity & Colmes, and Greta Van Susteren on Fox, and Nancy Grace and Glen Beck on on HLN. While the increases at MSNBC and CNN may suggest an appreciation for the counter-programming on MSNBC (i.e. Keith Olbermann’s Countdown) and the hard news flavor of CNN.

Most of all, I believe that the significance of the O’Reilly, et al, free fall is that we may have pushed back the hands of the Armageddon Clock a half hour or so. There is still a long way to go before Fox is knocked off its pedestal, but the trends are consistently pointing toward that outcome.

The just released February ratings (pdf) for cable news networks tell a tale that is decidedly downbeat for Fox News. In a comparison with February 2005, the numbers for every network are up except for Fox.

This may come as some surprise to Bill O’Reilly who, in a moment of empathy for his competition at MSNBC, started a petition to replace Keith Olbermann with former MSNBC host, Phil Donahue. O’Reilly felt sorry for what he said was the net’s poor performance. Never mind that Olbermann’s show drew more viewers than MSNBC’s conservative hosted shows. And I certainly doubt that Bill was just being indignant because Keith was being mean to him on a nightly basis. Now Bill has to swallow the difficult truth that Keith’s viewership is growing while his own is shrinking. In the key demographic group of viewers aged 25-54, the Total Day ratings for MSNBC rose 47% while Fox declined -13%.

Fox’s Prime Time erosion was even greater at -21%. In fact, in every hour in the daypart, from 3:00pm till midnight, Fox numbers were lower. This is a distinction that only Fox, of the five nets surveyed, was able to achieve.

The largest decline was suffered by Greta Van Susteren’s On The Record (-22%), followed closely by O’Reilly (-21%). Hannity & What’s His Name took the Bronze (-17%). Of the MSNBC programs opposite those losers, Olbermann’s Countdown was the biggest gainer (55%), which I’m sure doesn’t bother O’Reilly at all.

The growing feud between Bill and Keith is something unique in commercial television. It has taken on a personal tone that I can’t recall witnessing before. There is, however, a difference in style. While Olbermann is merciless in his mockery, he sticks to commenting on the substance of O’Reilly’s program and the stupid or demonstrably false things that O’Reilly says. Billy, on the other hand, seems to respond only by pointing out that more people watch his show than Olbermann’s. You know, the 2 million flies defense. But if O’Reilly isn’t careful, he may soon not have even that to crow about.