Posted on 12/11/2024 3:52:06 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
When a sports team loses, its fans don’t hang around for the postgame show.
The same goes for the tribal habits of cable news audiences.
Viewers have fled left-leaning MSNBC since Vice President Kamala Harris lost the presidential race to former President Trump on Nov. 5. The audience for the Comcast-owned channel is down 46% compared to the first 10 months of 2024, according to Nielsen data.
CNN, which has long battled ratings swings dictated by news coverage, is down 33% after the election.
Fox News, which last week presented Trump with its “Patriot of the Year” honor, has seen its audience surge. In November, the Murdoch family’s network captured a 70% share of the cable news audience in the weeks since the president-elect won another term in the White House; that’s the largest in its history.
The ratings tumult comes at a time when the cable business is facing an existential crisis, as more consumers are forgoing the pay-TV subscriptions that provide most of its revenue.
The corporate parents of the major news outlets are facing business challenges as well.
CNN is expected to make significant workforce cuts early next year as its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, tries to reduce debt.
Comcast is spinning off MSNBC and its other cable networks into a new company so that the declining business does not drag down its stock price. Some of MSNBC’s biggest stars, including Rachel Maddow, Joy Reid and Stephanie Ruhle, have been asked to take pay cuts, as revenues and profits come under pressure.
While Fox News is more dominant than ever in the ratings, its corporate parent, Fox Corp., also faces uncertainty.
Rupert Murdoch’s attempt to give control of his media empire to his son Lachlan was rejected by a Nevada probate commissioner this week. The proposed change in the family trust, which aimed...
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
It’s a changing media universe out there I left the mainstream media room back in July of 1990.
Got out in plenty of time.
How sweet it is! —Jackie Gleason
Many content providers and various channels are starting to lose their cash cow in cable TV. Some people are moving to live TV streaming services, but many are not. The biggest of the live TV streaming service, YouTube TV, lost subscribers in the first quarter of 2024. I haven't been able to find the numbers for the 2nd and 3rd quarters of 2024.
Some people I know who are using streaming TV services aren't holding onto the subscriptions full-time. They will pause service at various points during the year, especially with sports fans. Others will subscribe for a few months to binge-watch some favorite TV series, then pause that service for a while. This habit, which is becoming more commonplace, is producing an erratic stream of income for the streaming services.
I find it amusing that the drum-beat for the death of cable TV may take down more than the cable TV providers themselves.
Take MSNBC on the road, under some big tents, with exotic animals
Faux lost 30% of their viewers when they decided to go PMSNBC-lite.
We are watching a monumental time in history when Americans stopped believing the “News Propaganda Machine”
The idea that I might have to start contracting with a half dozen different TV vendors to get the news programs, sports, and movies, I like, is very depressing.
Newmax is much better.
“Take MSNBC on the road, under some big tents, with exotic animals”
Haven’t you been watching? They already have exotic animals.
I bet the new MSNBC spinoff company will be called “JOY” on the ticker.
ALL cable news channels are swirling the drain. Either they find a way to migrate to streaming and replace the revenue they once had, or shareholders are going to take there money elsewhere and they will die. Don’t matter which Murdock is running the show.
It’s classic business disruption. The new technology initially underperforms, but we’re right now at the knee of the curve where people are saying “Shoot, Joe Rogan, Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson - that’s where I’m going for real insight and to hear from newsmakers themselves, not some talking head with a bias”.
Prediction: At least one Mainstream News Organization will fold its tent in 2025. Probably ABC. MSNBC may struggle along, depending on who buys it and what their tolerance for pain is. CNN is probably best able to transition to the new model but they’ll need to lose most of their high-paid talent in the process.
After the 2020 election, people flocked away from Fox news and MSNBC soared above CNN. I think there may be a trend there.
I enjoy watching Fox News and think I’m smart enough to discern between news an propaganda.
I remember Rush telling a listener that if the talking heads stress you out, shut them off and I did. My wife still watches but switches to something else if I’m around or I go to another TV. Haven’t watched in 10-15 years.
They're better off at making cable/dish cheaper but providing "on demand" so viewers can watch shows/movies whenever they want. In return, content providers get a guaranteed stream of income.
Translation: 66 million households are being held hostage to the cable bundle.
Cable news network ratings are an absolute JOKE.
Everything is relative.
CNN and PMSNBC are not really struggling because lack of ratings.
It wasn't that long ago that CNN LOST market share and STILL increased profits which speaks to the predatory nature of cable bundling.
They are struggling because they have lost one-third of their "subscribers" or in other words 33 million households are no longer being held hostage to the cable bundle.
I'm no Fox News fanboy, but I applaud them for launching Fox Nation which is a subscription service.
In a free and fair media market "subscribers" should be able to voluntarily choose each and every service they subscribe to.
There are probably enough folk willing to pay for Fox News to keep it viable.
Facts are there is NO way CNN and PMSNBC could survive as a standalone subscription service.
Cable and its predatory bundle is dying on the vine.
Cable news networks are a LOUSY way to get information in the ever growing age of information.
And oh, those seemingly never ending commercials!
That just makes the price more attractive to MUSK.
SpinCo is going to abandon MSNBC's Seacaucus studios to realize the profit and then rent space in a bad NYC location, and literally brand it that way: "Live from East Harlem". Think about it, you would chase away your top talent broadcasting from Brownville or Bed-Stuy. MSNBC is over in less than a year.
Well if you straight up lie about everything for so long, like MSNBC, then people tune out.
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