2005 Numbers…
The 2005 numbers are out. FNC easily came in first place for the fourth year in a row. CNN was a solid second place. MSNBC eeked out 3rd place over HLN. CNBC was fifth. HLN had the biggest overall gain of all five networks over a year ago thanks to its revamped lineup. CNN and MSNBC sported gains in the Demo while FNC lost viewers. MSNBC lost viewers in the P2+ category in Total Day and Primetime though not by much. It should be noted that MSNBC’s primetime lineup had a hole in it at 9pm which was filled by the low performing The Situation near the middle of the year. It wasn’t until Live and Direct took over that slot after half the year was over that MSNBC’s primetime lineup finally stabilized in the ratings in as much as 9pm wasn’t signficantly lower for it than any other time period as had been the case the first half of the year.
(Numbers are broken down as follows: 2005/2004/difference in percent)
Total Day P2+
FNC 963,000/913,000/+5%
CNN 515,000/479,000/+8%
MSNBC 244,000/247,000/-1%
HLN 234,000/202,000/+16%
CNBC 139,000/146,000/-5%
Total Day P25-54
FNC 300,000/323,000/ -7%
CNN 173,000/157,000/+10%
MSNBC 99,000/96,000/ +3%
HLN 99,000/85,000/+16%
CNBC 46,000/64,000/-28%
Primetime P25-54
FNC 462,000/530,000/-13%
CNN 271,000/251,000/+8%
MSNBC 147,000/138,000/+7%
HLN 128,000/83,000/+54%
CNBC 67,000/72,000/-7%
Primetime P2+
FNC 1,768,000/1,666,000/+6%
CNN 853,000/855,000/0%
MSNBC 363,000/373,000/-3%
HLN 350,000/212,000/+65%
CNBC 129,000/161,000/-20%
TVNewser has an FNC release noting the network’s “shattering” performance in Primetime.
CNN released a pair of Powerpoint slides showing how some news events this year ranked high compared to other events over the last decade in the P 25-54 Demo.
CNN further noted its advances in the P 25-54 Demo over the last year…
The following CNN and Headline News programming are #1 in their time periods for 2005 to-date P2+ and/or P25-54 growth over year ago:
- Among morning programs, CNN’s American Morning 6-10a is #1 in P2+ growth (up 10%), while Headline News’ 6-10a Robin and Company has posted the greatest P25-54 growth (up 15%). [FXNC down 2% in P2+ and P25-54]
- CNN’s year-to-date 3-4p program combination (most recently, Live From) is #1 in P25-54 growth, building by +31%. [FXNC +9%]
- CNN’s year-to-date 4-5p program combination (most recently, The Situation Room) is #1 in P2+ growth (up 11%). [FXNC down -3% in P25-54]
- CNN’s 7-8p hour (currently The Situation Room, but for most of the year Anderson Cooper 360) is #1 in both P2+ (up 36%) and P25-54 (up 35%) growth among cable news programs in the time period (CNBC is up more, but not offering news at this time). [FXNC down -17% P25-54]
- CNN’s Paula Zahn Now 8-9p is #1 in both P2+ (up 29%) and P25-54 (up 43%) growth in the time period - most of any CNN/U.S. program. [FXNC The O’Reilly Factor has lost -18% P25-54].
- Headline News Nancy Grace 8-9p has nearly tripled the P2+ audience (+186%) and grown the P25-54 audience by 136% over year ago.
- Headline News and CNN’s Larry King Live 9-10 p are #1 and #2 in P25-54. Larry King Live up 16%.[FXNC down -12% P25-54]
- CNN’s 10-11p program combination (currently Anderson Cooper 360, but for most of the year NewsNight) is #1 in P25-54 growth, up 26%. [FXNC up 9% P25-54]
- CNN’s 11-12m program combination (Dobbs repeat/NewsNight/AC 360) is #1 in both P2+ (up 31%) and P25-54 (up 35%) growth. [FXNC down -13% P25-54]
The ratings once again show the increases CNN and MSNBC are seeing, while FNC in many areas either decreases or increases at a slower pace.
At the 6PM hour in the demo, John Gibson’s show lost 2%, Dobbs gained 21%, and Abrams gained 11%.
At the 8PM hour in the demo, O’Reilly’s show lost 18%, Zahn gained 43%, and Olbermann gained 12%. It will be interesting to see if that continues throughout 2006.
There were huge gains all across the board for CNN, especially in the demo. It’s too bad for the FNC people, not too much to celebrate about here, specifically when in the last quarter, CNN and MSNBC really seem to be picking it up even more. Headline News is significantly up with all of their additions, it will be interesting to see if that network can continue to increase, as well, now that their changes have seemed to stabalize.
It looks all FNC could put out was a slight increase in primetime viewership, which pretty much gets diminished when their primetime demo faced loses of 13%, CNN gained 8%, MSNBC gained 7%, and HLN gained 54%. That’s going to be quite a bit of lost advertising dollars right there, especially if advertisers see that trend continuing.
The next monthly and quarterly rating reports are definitely going to be pretty significant. It looks like the first time in years that the executive offices of CNN and MSNBC really have some big stuff to celebrate about.
Comment by AnonymousHere — December 29, 2005 @ 1:16 am
nice spin
when you’re at the lowest of the low, you’re bound to get a bump especially with all the news this year
when you’re at the top of your game it’s hard to get those double digit % gains
nice try though
Comment by Lurker — December 29, 2005 @ 9:34 am
Who’s #1 on MSNBC? Rita Cosby!
Comment by Terance — December 29, 2005 @ 9:40 am
I wanted to correct my earlier post. It was actually Hume at 6:00 PM and he lost 20% in the demo. Gibson lost 16% in the demo at 5:00 PM. CNN gained 11% there, and MSNBC gained 27%.
Comment by AnonymousHere — December 29, 2005 @ 10:20 am
Hey Lurker,so FNC has reached its peak and can’t find anymore viewers. Sounds like they are in trouble cuz they have to maintain their current audience and at the same time try to find a way to increase. In the process fnc could piss off its current audience and end up high and dry. You can’t maintain status quo forever and still be at the top of the gain. FNC needs to start doing something different to keep itself unique. Maybe they should try and do news instead of the newstainment and commentary and debate programs it airs now. Oh but wait, that would piss off the angry white people that love screaming at their tv’s at night…fnc is in a bad situation.
And BTW, you can’t spin facts. FNC made very little increases while CNN made huge increases this past year. CNN needs to maintain what they are doing and hopefully one day reclaim the number one spot for cable news. But as for as i’m concerned CNN already is as fnc is nothing more than a political, debate, commentary and opinion channel. Very little news there.
Comment by Anonymous — December 29, 2005 @ 10:23 am
Big Story loses viewers everytime Gibson is out for one reason or another. His energy paces the show. End of story.
O’Rielly, on the other hand, may continue a steady drop as he hates to leave the show in the hands of others because he feels everyone else is inferior to himself. He, also, is over-pushing his stance as “totally independant” whereas all others are “kool-aid drinkers” no matter which side of the perfect center (Bill O’Rielly) they call themselves. His viewership was much more stable, allbeit predictable, when he could be viewed as a staunch leaner to the right. IMHO he is “Independantly” digging his own grave…but as he would say…”Nobody could do it better!”
Comment by Roger C. — December 29, 2005 @ 10:43 am
Fox and their shows broke all those viewership records, and they are #1 for four years in a row, and all CNN can come up with is 3rd and 4th best in a decade in a demo?
Um, CNN and MSNBC celebrating? Are you mad? Their numbers are so low compared to Fox. So many more people are watching fox. Fox beat all cable news combined in viewership in prime, and in that demo all day, 300,000 vs. 173,000 and 99,000? Fox beatsCNN and MSNBC combined.
The only place there is celebrating going on in in the fox house. I can’t wait to see which doors they knock down in 2006.
Comment by Craig — December 29, 2005 @ 11:24 am
To all the crazed CNN fans that keep piling on here, look at the first CNN slide. CNN’s all time high 25-54 demo number is 269,000 viewers which was during the war in 2003. 269,000 viewers during their entire 25 year history. That number loses by over 30,000 viewers to FOX’s current 300,000 25-54 demo viewers from this year, which wasn’t even a year during a war.
It shows htat CNN really is just fading away.
Comment by Jake — December 29, 2005 @ 11:45 am
Jake, It doesn’t show that CNN is fading away, it shows that CNN never brought in the big boy numbers that Fox does and never ever will.
While CNN wets their pants over moderate gains on low ratings (which only shows how bad they did last year during the elections), fox news is going to new places that CNN and MSNBC can only dream of following them to.
Like Craig, I too can’t wait to see the new heights fox news goes to in 2006.
Comment by Staycee — December 29, 2005 @ 12:23 pm
“Jake, It doesn’t show that CNN is fading away, it shows that CNN never brought in the big boy numbers that Fox does and never ever will”
At this point the only direction CNN can go is up. I doubt they have lost hope but they will have to pull off a miracle to compete with the numbers FNC is putting on the boards.
Comment by Anthony — December 29, 2005 @ 12:32 pm
Craig, Jake and Staycee: Excellent points. Apparently, the CNN publicity department is adept at parsing numbers. If CNN keeps making these nearly invisible gains in the 25-54 demo, they may catch FNC by about 2020! The coming year promises to be even bigger for Ailes’ guys, especially for Fox News Radio.
Roger C: You state that John Gibson loses ratings when he is on vacation. Well, duh, all hosts do. What is the big deal? Or “Big Story?”
And your post about O’Reilly (that’s how it is spelled here in America) is full of nonsense along with wishful thinking that the king of cable news will fade. If he can’t trust others to do his show, why does O’Reilly get more vacation time than any other Fox host? And where is that “steady drop” in viewership? For 2005,, Mr. Bill averaged 2.2 million per show and on many nights the Factor is in the 2.5 to 3.0 million range at 8 ET with another 1 mill or so at 11ET/8PT.
Negative and erroneous blog sites and posts can’t change the facts or the numbers; FNC is murdering all comers. If this were a prize-fight, the referee would declare a 1st round TKO!
Comment by Ira — December 29, 2005 @ 12:47 pm
TV Newser blog has a great post about the 25-54 demographics in the morning. Robin Meade on HLN was 9,000 viewers from beating CNN’s American Morning in the 25-54 demo from 6-10 am and FOX almost tripled CNN in that demo at the same time. And Imus was close to beating CNn as well.
It’s not party time for CNN in the morning either.
Comment by Dave — December 29, 2005 @ 1:26 pm
I saw that TV Newser blog entry. Good stuff. I was very surprised (I guess) to see the low mornign numbers for CNN. Klein is certainly not wearing a party hat.
Comment by Anthony — December 29, 2005 @ 3:31 pm
Consider that out of the three available cable providers in my area - only one provides Fox In the 2nd tier bundle. All three provide both CNN and MSNBC in the 2nd tier. I pay $15 a month extra to go with Comcast and get Fox.
I wonder what the ratings would look like with equal access and pticing?
Comment by daubermaus — December 29, 2005 @ 3:45 pm
Take the ratings, remove all the spin, and what you have is MSNBC barely holding on to third position (but definitely holding on with thanks to Rita Cosby), Fox News doing very well and moving forward, Headline News doing incredibly well and growing with help from Nancy Grace, and CNN trying to cover up all their problems and spinning so fast that they can’t see straight. Fortunately for us, we all can see straight.
I’m personally disappointed to see that American Morning is doing so poorly since one of its anchors (Soledad O’Brien) is African American and young people aren’t watching her work.
Comment by Lakiesh — December 29, 2005 @ 4:08 pm
Content should be the topic of discussion. FNC isn’t about news therefore can’t be put in the same category of the others. FNC is in a category by itself, newstainment.
Comment by Anon — December 29, 2005 @ 4:11 pm
I am very disappointed in the 20% loss by Brit Hume’s show.
I am a big fan. But if he doesn’t replace that panel now and then with younger members, his ratings in the 25-54 demo category will continue to fall.
Comment by Cara — December 29, 2005 @ 4:56 pm
Cara - Hume was ranked #7 for the year in the 25-54 demo and #5 for overall viewership. That’s what is called a major ratings success for the year. Even after a huge election year when that younger demo tunes in most, Hume’s 6PM poltical program out of Washington, DC, is kicking major cable news butt.
Comment by JMW — December 29, 2005 @ 5:17 pm
daubermaus: Thank you for correcting another lie that recently appeared unchallenged in this blog: that FNC creams MSNBC because they are in more homes. Fox spent years fighting to get on equal footing with CNN and MSNBC in number of homes. Even now in my travels, I find more places that have MSNBC than Fox.
Comment by Ira — December 29, 2005 @ 8:46 pm
Lakiesh: Soledad is Cuban-American.
Comment by bridget — December 29, 2005 @ 11:29 pm
“The fifth of six children born to a black Cuban mother and an Australian father of Irish descent, she can claim multiple heritages, and embraces them all.”
Comment by Terance — December 30, 2005 @ 9:12 am
JMW,
Brit Hume is appointment viewing for me! He is fantastic.I am perhaps one of his biggest fans. But if you read the above report you will see that he lost 20% in the 25-54 demographics between 2004 and 2005! That is indeed a disappointment to his fans.
Comment by Cara — December 30, 2005 @ 5:11 pm
Appreciation for this ifnomration is over 9000thank you!
Comment by Jaylan — September 20, 2011 @ 5:23 pm