Q2 Numbers: MSNBC vs. CNN in the Demo…
Looking at the long term Demo numbers for MSNBC and CNN during Daytime and Primetime, it is clear that the gap between the two has narrowed considerably. At first glance this looks impressive for MSNBC but there are two signs that point to trouble for the network. First, it is clear from the following two charts that the gap closure has less to do with MSNBC’s gains than it has to do with CNN’s fall in the Demo. Second, MSNBC itself is trailing off a bit in the Demo this year so far.
A shame the FNC PR team doesn’t have anything positve to say about its declining numbers. BUT I guess you just sweep them under the mat and hope for better numbers next time to be proud of.
Comment by Cable News Watcher — June 27, 2006 @ 9:49 pm
At the end of the day, Fox still pounds every other single competitor they’ve got even with the declining numbers. If the other two networks could figure out something to do that was fresh, exciting, interesting, instead of being echos of one another, they might be able to draw in larger audiences. Fox has that core audience that never leaves them no matter what and the truth is on plain view: it’s larger than the core audience for either CNN or MSNBC. As someone who is a fan of both CNN & MNSBC, I wish they could figure out what that something is and turn this around in their favor but I think they both missed the boat a long time ago and there’s no hope of ever catching up at this point in the game—until Fox’s audience dies from extreme old age or something.
Comment by MGM — June 28, 2006 @ 9:52 am