{"id":453,"date":"2007-05-31T15:00:02","date_gmt":"2007-05-31T22:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=453"},"modified":"2007-05-31T15:36:12","modified_gmt":"2007-05-31T22:36:12","slug":"msnbc-growing-faster-than-fox-cnn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=453","title":{"rendered":"MSNBC Growing Faster Than Fox, CNN"},"content":{"rendered":"

The all-important May ratings (PDF)<\/a> period has produced what is becoming a predictably recurrent theme: MSNBC is growing faster than any of its cable news rivals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Primetime M-F<\/b><\/td>\nCNN<\/b><\/td>\nFOX<\/b><\/td>\nHLN<\/b><\/td>\nMSNBC<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Persons 2+<\/td>\n-13%<\/font><\/td>\n-2%<\/font><\/td>\n+14%<\/font><\/td>\n+51%<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Persons 25-54<\/td>\n+8%<\/font><\/td>\n+14<\/font><\/td>\n+22<\/font><\/td>\n+40%<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Total Day<\/b><\/td>\nCNN<\/b><\/td>\nFOX<\/b><\/td>\nHLN<\/b><\/td>\nMSNBC<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Persons 2+<\/td>\n-2%<\/font><\/td>\n-4%<\/font><\/td>\n+12%<\/font><\/td>\n+14%<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Persons 25-54<\/td>\n+4%<\/font><\/td>\n+6%<\/font><\/td>\n+11%<\/font><\/td>\n+19%<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

Both Fox and CNN declined in persons 2+ for the total day as well as for primetime. Their numbers for the 25-54 demo were better, but still far below the increases at MSNBC. Keith Olbermann’s “Countdown”<\/em> again set the pace for growth at the network, advancing 63% (P2+) and 35% (25-54) over May 2006. Compare that with the O’Reilly Factor’s tepid 12% (25-54) rise, and an actual drop in total viewers of 1%. Two years ago O’Reilly had 4 times the audience that Olbermann had. Today that is down to 2 times. That’s still a hefty lead, but it’s also a preciptious drop. And since Countdown’s ascendency has not abated over these years, it suggests that the programs could be tied two years from now.<\/p>\n

Much of the news this month seems tailor made for a Fox resurgence – a lot of sensationalism and gossip. There was the New Jersey “terrorist”<\/em> threat (which Fox hammered on), Alberto Gonzalez’ congressional testimony (which Fox almost ignored), tornadoes in Kansas, the war supplemental bill, Jerry Falwell’s death, and, as always, Rosie, Lindsay, and American Idol. Fox also hosted the first Republican presidential primary debate. But none of these things boosted Fox’s performance as one might expect. The Republican debate, in fact, only matched the numbers that O’Reilly gets as the regular program in that time slot.<\/p>\n

A study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism reported that the story generating the most coverage in the first quarter of 2007 was Iraq. But while the rest of the media was reporting on Bush’s “surge”<\/em> and what has become the deadliest month of the year to date in Iraq, Fox devoted less than half the airtime<\/a> to these events than did MSNBC, who provided the most coverage. Could this be part of the reason that Fox viewership is tanking?<\/p>\n

Results like these continue to show that there is an underserved market for news consumers who are tired of the antiquated stylings of CNN and repulsed by the scatological, fact-deficient fare that passes for news at Fox. It remains to be seen if the programming geniuses at any of these networks will recognize the obvious and bring back real news<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The all-important May ratings (PDF) period has produced what is becoming a predictably recurrent theme: MSNBC is growing faster than any of its cable news rivals. Primetime M-F CNN FOX HLN MSNBC Persons 2+ -13% -2% +14% +51% Persons 25-54 +8% +14 +22 +40% Total Day CNN FOX HLN MSNBC Persons 2+ -2% -4% +12% […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-ratings"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-7j","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":315,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=315","url_meta":{"origin":453,"position":0},"title":"MSNBC Stands Alone In 2006","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/4\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":196,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=196","url_meta":{"origin":453,"position":1},"title":"Fox News Sinks Again","author":"Mark NC","date":"8\/1\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"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. 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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.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":271,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=271","url_meta":{"origin":453,"position":3},"title":"The Olbermann Steamroller Still Rolling","author":"Mark NC","date":"11\/1\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":855,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=855","url_meta":{"origin":453,"position":4},"title":"Fox News No Longer Number One","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/2\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Continuing a long pattern of decline, Fox News once again underperforms its competitors. The first quarter of a presidential election year can generally be expected to boost viewership for news networks. For CNN and MSNBC this has been markedly apparent. For Fox News...not so much. As a result of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":290,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=290","url_meta":{"origin":453,"position":5},"title":"MSNBC\/Olbermann Continue To Hound The Factor","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/4\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"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. 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