Glenn Beck's Ratings Collapse

The Market Insider ^ | 4-29-2010 | Gillian Reagan

[blam]

Glenn Beck's Ratings Collapse

Gillian Reagan
Apr. 29, 2010, 4:15 PM

Is Glenn losing his edge? Maybe not.

Fox News' Glenn Beck might be a one-man $32 million media empire (books, radio shows, tours and more!) but what's going on with his marquee Fox News show?

The Los Angeles Times' Joe Flint reports that News Corp.-owned Fox News cable news ratings are still high above the competition. But Glenn Beck's total number of viewers are down by almost 30%, from 2.9 million in January to 2.1 million in April.

Glenn might not be the rising ratings juggernaut month to month, like he has always been. But he's still a powerhouse in the 5 p.m. timeslot. As Joe writes, "the decline in his audience has hardly made a dent on the lead he enjoys for his 5 p.m. festival of emotions. His rivals should hold off a little on popping the Champagne."

[snip]

Here's how the other cable news personalities are doing, year over year, in April:

April 09- April 2010 in the 25-54 demo:

* Fox News' Bill O’Reilly– down 3%

* MSNCB's Rachel Maddow – down 8%

* Fox News' Greta Van Sustren – down 13%

* Fox News' Sean Hannity – down 17%

* MSNBC's Chris Matthews – down 23%

* MSNBC's Headline News – down 26%

* MSNBC's Keith Olbermann – down 28%

* CNN's Wolf Blitzer – down 37%

* CNN's Campbell Brown – down 39%

* CNN's Anderson Cooper – down 41%

* CNN's Larry King – down 46%

[snip]

[oldvike]

People are sick of hearing gloom and doom. He’s completely negative with no solutions. At least Rush mixes in some humor and tries to keep us as positive as possible. Basically, Beck is just depressing.

[DLfromthedesert]

I think people feel they need a break from the intensity of everything that’s going on.

[dalebert]

spring is here...

[sickoflibs]

I watch his show daily but I would like less abstract lectures and more videos of democrats (and republicans) caught making up stuff. He is at his best when he uses humor (like the old Rush TV show) not the “We are all going to die”.

[mlocher]

In this Obama led economy, nobody can afford cable anymore. So, ratings are down. (Smile)

[BunnySlippers]

He is not on when I am off work.

[Cementjungle]

Fox has too many commercials these days, it drives me nuts... 30 seconds of news followed by 5 minutes of ads. Victims of their own success I guess.

[lulu16]

I was sick and tired of “It’s the Deocrats and the Republicans fault” and how he put down birthers.

Used to DVR him, excited to see his show at the end of the night. Now we assiduously avoid him. Though I wish he would take down another czar.

[fkabuckeyesrule]

Well of course last year you still had the cult of Obama going on and of course the energy of the opposition. In April you might figure there would be a drop off since the health care things happened in March. Plus Easter was in April this year and everyone is excited about baseball season.

[BibChr]

He’s always triggered my Spidey-senses. That boat has a leak.

[Cicero]

Well, if you look at the numbers, it looks as if everybody is down. Some of the numbers are much worse than his.

Still, 30% is a lot.

I don’t watch TV, so I don’t really see any of these guys. But one thing I’ve noticed is that there seems to be a lot less Beck worship here in the forum than there was earlier.

Also, he was saying some things that really needed to be said, and saying them strongly. People admired him for that. But how many times can you keep saying the same thing?

I haven’t listened to Rush recently, either, but I did while I was commuting. And I read the posts here. Rush is ALWAYS interesting, subtle, amusing, something new all the time. That is VERY hard to do, and I doubt whether Glenn Beck can do it. I just don’t think he’s that smart.

[Nervous Tick]

>> At least Rush mixes in some humor

Rush is the heaviest hitter in the big league.

By comparison, Beck isn’t even “farm team”.

I agree with essentially all of Beck’s views, but his rhetoric is childish and simplistic.

(Just my 2c, don’t taze me, y’all.)

[ladyvet]

I don't know about anyone else but I am sick of hearing my country going to hell and there's nothing I can do about it. I go to tea party's, I give to Conservative cause's and candidates but everyday this crap is getting shoved down my throat and I can't listen to it 24/7 anymore or I will lose my mind.

[Ditter]

I just told someone a few minutes ago that I have heard enough bad news. I may have to give up listening.

[bioqubit]

January is when he came out and slammed “birthers” and refused to seriously confront Obama’s ineligibility. He’s lucky he didn’t lose more listeners than that.

[brownsfan]

“People are sick of hearing gloom and doom. He’s completely negative with no solutions. At least Rush mixes in some humor and tries to keep us as positive as possible. Basically, Beck is just depressing.”

Couldn’t agree more.

Add to that, his presentation is sometimes embarrassing. Festival of emotions as the author put it.

[AmishDude]

I think that’s part of it.

Also, Beck was breaking some serious news. He isn’t doing it so much anymore.I also think that 5pm slot is the first one to suffer when spring breaks.

I find it amazing that the rest of Fox is not losing as much, percentage-wise, as the rest of them.