August 2006 Numbers: CNN…
CNN is touting its ratings gains for the month of August and says FNC is declining…
CNN Has Largest Audience Growth in August While FNC Declines
In Prime (M-F) CNN up 40% While FNC is down-10% in P25-54
In August, for the fourth month in a row, CNN has double digit audience gains in both Total Day in both P2+ and P25-54. (FNC is stagnant or in decline).
(see Year to Year comparison sheet in the blog entry above - Spud)
CNN Program Highlights
American Morning6a-10a up 30% in P2+ and up 45% in P25-54
The Situation Room
4p up 43% in P2+ and up 103% in P25-54
5p up 39% in P2+ and up 66% in P25-54
7p up 32% in P2+ and up 56% in P25-54
Lou Dobbs Tonight
6p up 69% in P2+ and up 66% in P25-54
Paula Zahn Now
8p up 32% in P2+ and up 51% in P25-54 (O’Reilly Factor down -15% in P2+ and down -5% in P25-54)
Larry King Live
9p up 9% in P2+ and up 4% in P25-54 (Hannity & Colmes down -21% in P2+ and flat in P25-54)
Anderson Cooper 360
10p up 53% in P2+ and up 57% in P25-54 (On the Record down -31% in P2+ and down -22% in P25-54)
11p up 87% in P2+ and up 131% in P25-54
10-12m block up 61% in P2+ and up 80% in P25-54 (On the Record/O’Reilly down -20% in P2+ and down -8% in P25-54)
In the Footsteps of bin Laden
On Wednesday, August 23rd CNN Presents’ In The Footsteps of bin Laden scored the highest audience of the year in its time slot - - delivering 2.2 million total viewers and 886k P25-54 for the two hours from 9-11pm. CNN won the prime time P25-54 demo versus the cable news competition. The documentary, hosted by Christiane Amanpour, also delivered 26% more total viewers and 42% more P25-54 than Fox News from 9-11p.
9 Million More Total Viewers Watch CNN in August
9 million more people watched CNN in the month of August than FNC (a 17% advantage) and 15 million more viewers watched CNN than MSNBC (a difference of 33%).
P2+
CNN 63,992,000
FNC 54,594,000
MSNBC 48,089,000P25-54
CNN 30,376,000
FNC 24,362,000
MSNBC 23,837,000
I’ve noticed the #s. I think it has everything to do with CNN being less liberal and more fair-and-balanced. More Wolf and more John Roberts will do that.
Comment by erljr — August 29, 2006 @ 5:25 pm
I think it’s pretty amazing (and sad) that CNN is still so far behing Fox. Even with all the news, their numbers ar e so low in comparison. Man, they didn’t even come close. I’m more interested in MSNBC at this point.
Comment by Harvey — August 29, 2006 @ 5:31 pm
Is it correct to assume that “9 Million” section above refers to the CUME ratings?
Comment by Enquiring Minds Want to Know — August 29, 2006 @ 6:39 pm
Good question. I was wondering that too but I assume it is…
Comment by Spud — August 29, 2006 @ 8:30 pm
The nine million thing is not new. CNN has never lost the ‘total viewers’ race because CNN viewers watch fewer minutes/day and fewer minutes/month than FNC. That’s why their #s go up when there’s REAL breaking news: the viewers who usually watch five minutes a day suddenly watch two hours a day; whereas FNC viewers who watch an hour a day suddenly watch two. Just do the math. That’s also why CNN repeats things so much more often than FNC does. They know their viewers don’t watch as long.
But, as I mentioned above, I do see those #s going up in slow news cycles as well as busy ones. And I do find myself turning to CNN more often these days. They still tilt liberal, but not nearly as much as they did two years ago.
Comment by erljr — August 29, 2006 @ 9:23 pm
Those alleged gains are nothing but a mirage. The total viewing audience of FOX eclipses that of CNN by a mile, sometimes when its number is combined with those of MSNBC and CNBC. Any reader who keeps tab weekly of the respective numbers in all the cable news channels knows how wide the gap is still between FOX and CNN. And that has been for the last five years. Those who think CNN will eventually catch up are just dreaming. FOX actually is getting stronger. Sorry, but CNN will just need to get used to being No. 2.
Comment by RGL — August 29, 2006 @ 9:57 pm
You can always tell when CNN gets hard up, cause the CUME comes out. How, after all the news in August, can all those CNN shows not do better?
Comment by Craig — August 29, 2006 @ 10:21 pm
From a business perspective, Id rather be in CNN’s position than Fox’s. Those cume numbers for CNN are great; More Americans tune into CNN over the course of an hour, a day and the month. Audience reach is what advertisers pay for, which I guess explains why CNN charges more for an ad and makes more money than Fox.
Comment by todd p — August 30, 2006 @ 1:39 am
I try to stay clear of these ratings posts but I don’t understand why people here always talk down the numbers when you can see clearly that CNN numbers have increased. I don’t see any minus signs beside any of those numbers for CNN.
While Fox News is still well in front by miles, I find it quite amusing that whenever some numbers like these are posted, there’s always someone here who has to point that fact out and then argue that Fox News or MSNBC is in a stronger position than what they were the month prior when their numbers seem to be down.
I commend posters like erljr and others that offer an explanation to why they think the number have gone up (or down) whatever the case may be.
Comment by F10 — August 30, 2006 @ 8:05 am
How about there’s been a ton of news and CNn still can’t come close to beating FOX? Cume, shmume. The Nielsen’s are what matter, and I have no idea what it will take for CNN to get going. Actually, I do, it involves Angelina Jolie.
Comment by Craig — August 30, 2006 @ 11:38 am
The rising numbers for CNN and MSNBC are a reflection of the change in the political climate.
Comment by ladyone — August 30, 2006 @ 12:56 pm
#6: “Those alleged gains are nothing but a mirage.”
Just to be clear here, RGL, are you saying the figures are FALSIFIED? That is, Fox is NOT losing viewers and CNN Is NOT gaining viewers?
Comment by Arthur — August 30, 2006 @ 1:37 pm
CUME is a slippery slope. The firm I work for views CNN as a network that has lost its way. People check in by habit, but are quickly turned away by the product. Paula Zahn’s ratings tell that story. But the viewers don’t stay long enough to matter, ie. view the commercials, so it’s more and more a waste of time to advertise there. CNN spins it as more people watch CNN. But the people who matter don’t buy that argument anymore.
Comment by Staycee — August 30, 2006 @ 3:30 pm
“But the people who matter don’t buy that argument anymore.”
Logical Fallacy - Appeal to Authority
Comment by Arthur — August 30, 2006 @ 4:35 pm
It’s not a mirage RGL. FNC’s #s have dominated for five years, but they still haven’t made more money than CNN. This is supposed to be their year. Roger Ailes doesn’t think it’s a mirage either. Look at two years ago: FNC’s #s were constantly bigger than the other four combined. Not any more. And their demo #s were also bigger than the other four combined.
Staycee: CUME does matter, and that’s obvious these past two months. In the past two months, they have stuck around for the commercials. But you are right as far as low to normal news cycles: during those times, advertisers are eating the cost of the commercials. The exception: Larry King.
Arthur: FNC is mainly losing their DEMO viewers.
ladyone: MSNBC’s #s are NOT increasing. Your political climate arguement has no validity. The premise is non-existent.
todd p: CNN doesn’t charge more for adds than FNC. You are reading something from a few years ago. The reason FNC has been making less is because they are currently charging cable companies much less than CNN per viewer. There are two revenue streams: ads and per viewer charges. FNC is renegotiating those rates starting this year.
Craig: Cume does matter. And CNN caters to cume, as is seen if you just watch for a couple hours: less news repeated more often. But part of that cume is going away as some airports are taking out the TVs and others are changing to FNC or letting the airlines and employees choose.
F10: thanks!
Comment by erljr — August 30, 2006 @ 10:18 pm
“Arthur: FNC is mainly losing their DEMO viewers.”
How you figure? They’re down 500K in total and around 50K in demo (looking at prime weeknights now). That translates into 22 and 10 percent; they’re losing more total viewers as a percentage than demo viewers.
Which may explain their problem - their older viewers are dying off.
Comment by Arthur — August 30, 2006 @ 10:35 pm
I don’t buy it. 500,000 old FNC viewers didn’t die in the past year; and a good portion of the 500,000 are demo viewers remember; total means all. I shouldn’t have said “mainly losing,” but Roger Ailes is not worried about his total viewer #s. He’s looking at the demo. Look at the totals FNC vs. CNN Arthur. I see no threat to FNC in the totals. I see a big-time threat in the demo #s. If FNC starts losing to CNN in the demo, there will be HUGE changes there way before there’s ever a threat of losing in the total viewers category.
FNC got to the top by being, as Shep says, lean and mean, not fat and lazy. Roger Ailes says anyone who doesn’t have the ‘launch’ attitude and mentality will have to go. To me that means fat and lazy. And what I’m seeing is the biggest star they have being fat and lazy. Not wanting (refusing?) to work Fridays, backing out of even doing a special Sunday show while the other three primetime stars are doing special Saturday AND Sunday shows, and now losing to those same three in the demo. But I’m drifting into another subject. Or am I?
My point to you Arthur: some of what you’ve posted is dead right, but some is just spin.
Comment by erljr — August 31, 2006 @ 3:15 pm