The Homa Files

Question: If FOX is so bad, why are so many people watching ?  Here are the nums …

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Excerpted from RCP: CNN is Missing Dobbs, December 2nd, 2009

Could things get any worse for CNN? Apparently, the answer is ‘yes.’

The pioneering and once dominant leader in cable news has been hemorrhaging viewers for some time and earlier this year suffered the indignity of slipping to last place among cable news networks, behind even its sister network Headline News.

Now come the November Nielsen ratings showing that the surprise departure of Lou Dobbs has cost the network even more viewers.

After Dobbs announced his resignation on air on Wednesday November 11, CNN suffered a 25% decline among all viewers in Dobbs’ 7pm time slot, and a 26% decline among adults 25-54.

Meanwhile – surprise, surprise – CNN’s competition in the 7pm slot at FOX News, The FOX Report with Shephard Smith, scored its highest rated month of the year in November with more than 2.1 million total viewers.

CNN’s fall after Dobbs’ departure also allowed MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews to eke its way into second place 7 pm slot in November with 672,000 total viewers.

And, CNN’s golden boy Anderson Cooper is fading in the ratings.  His numbers have slipped significantly through the past year. His 10 p.m. show, “Anderson Cooper 360,” has declined 62% in total viewers from November 2008. Last month, in Cooper’s time slot, Fox News’ “On the Record” attracted an average viewership of 1.9 million while “360” averaged 672,000; repeats of MSNBC’s “Countdown” and HLN’s Nancy Grace show averaged 655,000 and 458,000, respectively.

http://realclearpolitics.blogs.time.com/2009/12/02/cnn-missing-dobbs/

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Excerpted from NYT: CNN Drops to Last Place Among Cable News Networks, October 26, 2009

CNN  hit a new competitive low with its prime-time programs in October, finishing fourth – and last – among the cable news networks with the audience that all the networks rely on for their advertising.

CNN’s programs were behind not only Fox News and MSNBC, but even its own sister network HLN (formerly Headline News.) Three of its four shows between 7 and 11 p.m. finished fourth and last among the cable news networks. That was the first time CNN had finished that poorly with its prime-time shows.

Individually, the CNN shows were beaten resoundingly by all the Fox News programs.

CNN averaged 202,000 viewers between the ages of 25 and 54 – the group that television news organizations use as their basis of success because of their advertising sales. That was far behind the dominant leader, Fox News, which averaged 689,000.

The only CNN show from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. that did not finish last was Larry King, which was third, ahead of the new Joy Behar show on HLN. Mr. King averaged 224,000 and Ms. Behar 181,000. But Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News had a huge lead with 659,000 viewers in that age group. Second was Rachel Maddow on MSNBC with 242,000.

Bill O’Reilly on Fox News continued his long dominance with the biggest numbers of any host, 881,000 viewers. Mr. Olbermann, with his first-run program, was second with 295,000. Close behind was the first edition of Ms. Grace’s show with 269,000. Campbell Brown on CNN trailed with only 162,000.

CNN released a statement Monday saying, “CNN’s ratings are always going to be more dependent on the news environment, much more so than opinion-based programming especially in prime time.”

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/26/cnn-drops-to-last-place-among-cable-news-networks/

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