Posted on 08/31/2005 7:08:02 AM PDT by MindBender26
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Fox News scored its largest audience so far this year in August, a month when most of the other cable news channels suffered ratings declines in comparison with convention-heavy 2004.
According to data released Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research, Fox News tallied slightly more than 2 million total viewers in primetime during the month, a 32% improvement over its year-ago figures.
By contrast, CNN lost 19% of its primetime viewership (to 748,000), and MSNBC dropped 22% to 349,000 in August compared with a year ago. CNN's Headline News, on the strength of "Nancy Grace" and other primetime programming, jumped 117% to 449,000 viewers, making it the third-ranked news channel in primetime, overtaking MSNBC.
In the news demographic of adults 25-54, Fox News ruled again, with 541,000 viewers, up 12%, while CNN lost 9% to 236,000 and MSNBC was mostly flat at 145,000. Headline News averaged 160,000, up 111%.
Fox News owned 11 of the top 12 shows in cable news, with 2.5 million viewers for No. 1 "The O'Reilly Factor" (up 13%) and 2.2 million viewers for "On the Record With Greta Van Susteren." Greta Van Susteren's show, which has seen a major boost in the ratings with its coverage of the Natalee Holloway story in Aruba, saw a 36% boost in viewership.
CNN's sole entry in the top 10, "Larry King Live," saw viewership fall 27% to 1 million. "The Situation Room," which debuted this month, averaged 466,000 viewers, down 14% compared to the political-heavy coverage on CNN last year. On the other hand, "Nancy Grace" gave Headline News its highest month ever, with 738,000 viewers in August. That was just behind "NewsNight With Aaron Brown" and "Paula Zahn Now"; "Paula Zahn Now" saw its total viewership rise 6% to 596,000, though its demo coverage was flat.
Fox News also won the ratings war in hurricane coverage Monday, according to Nielsen data released Tuesday afternoon. Fox News averaged 2.8 million viewers in total day -- a 247% increase over the same day in 2004 -- ahead of CNN's 1.8 million viewers and MSNBC's 679,000
This is exceptionally significant, as the identification of where viewers turn to in crisis times is a great indication of what network viewers TRUST the most. It is also a great predictor of future ratings.
MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! The Vast Right Wing Takeover continues!
I can't believe so many people watch Greta's shows on Natalie Holloway (sp?). It's so different from the rest of Fox News (except for those police car chases), in that it is covered as a local missing person story with no political significance.
To each his own, I guess.
It seems to me that Fox is not all that conservative.
"It seems to me that Fox is not all that conservative."
They actually have real conservatives to argue the right view though. Compare to others, ........and from the right...John McCain.
A fair fight for a change. Not 6 liberals against 1 conservative.
I agree. It does generally provide two sides to most issues. However, overall, it still leans left of center.
FOXNews isn't conservative... it's just the only network that gives a balanced view of the news.
Frankly, I've been watching a lot more History Channel since Fox adopted the 'all Natalie all the time' format. I don't understand how all that 'A Current Affair'-type TV gets such good ratings on a network that bills itself as a news outlet.
"It seems to me that Fox is not all that conservative."
It's not supposed to be nor should it be. It simply presents both (or more) sides, the way it should be done. Conservatives love it bec they aren't used to seeing/hearing their side presented. Libs hate it for the same reason.
Gretta's show? The entire Fox evening is filled with this CourtTV stuff. It has almost ruined Bill O'Reilly and I can't even stand to watch Sean Hannity and his sidekick. Before Natalie it was the little girl raped by the druggie in Florida and before that it was the runaway bride and before that it was some other unfortunate but attractive blond person. These are tragedies but they hardly merit the kind of coverage they are getting when there is so much other critically more important stuff happening in the world.
I get something like 500 digital channels over my cable. I wish just one would cover the news.
BINGO! We have a winner here. The left hates FNC because it's not tilted to port like all the other news outlets, and some people on the right hate it because it's not GOPTV or the John Birch Channel.
Actually, my comment was made relative to what I've seen Freepers post. I"ve gotten my impression from reading FR. I don't watch any of them. Life is so sweet w/o the blare of television constantly yakking away. If it's important, it's here on FR.
I guess they're not biased.
In the face of these numbers, the heads of the ultra-left wing TV channels, ABC, CBS and NBC will blather that they still have 30 million viewers watch their "news" every night. They are whistling past the grave yard.
There "news" is only 22 minutes long and is mostly medical reporting to support their medical sponsors. This programming appeals to older viewers who don't have cable and want to see medical programming, not news.
No, non-cable "news" is dieing. It never did a decent job, except in it's own mind, and was far too interested in it's political agenda, an easy thing when they were the only game in town.
Please!!!! Nancy Grace? That woman makes my skin crawl. But I did laugh that it "overtaking MSNBC"
Keith Olbermann's show on MSNBC may be that format's equivalent to Chevy Chase's (or Magic Johnson's) late night talk show. Brutal.
>>>This is exceptionally significant, as the identification of where viewers turn to in crisis times is a great indication of what network viewers TRUST the most. It is also a great predictor of future ratings.
Perhaps for crisis of the Natalee Holloway story. But it seems in the midst of the current Katrina crisis, a review of rhe threads indicates that most Freepers are citing the superior coverage of CNN and choosing to watch that over FNC.
While recoverying from surgery, I flipped between CNN and Fox all day. CNN is crap for politics, but their coverage of the tragedy in the Gulf Coast was outstanding - greatly superior to Fox's. (I hated to type it, but it's true.) Fox is getting overwhelmed with commercials.
If it's the "Conservative Fox Channel", why has it never been the "Liberal CNN"?
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