Olbermann trumpets Midnight Demo ratings win…
Tonight on Countdown in the Keeping Tabs segment, Keith Olbermann noted that his show’s Midnight repeat beat FNC’s Midnight repeat in the Demo by 16,000 viewers in response to Roger Ailes comments this morning about FNC going after the broadcast networks.
Roger Ailes, the circular gentleman, has spoken again. Having already fired or demoted several popular hosts from The Minsitry of Truth’s Fox News Channel and dealing with nasty fight between another host and his wife - now former Washington Bureau Chief - Ailes has announced his his next 10 year plan. Quoted by several TV Blogs as telling his staff, “It’s been a great 10 years…we’ve defied the odds…we should be congratulated…But ever decision I make from here on in is about the next 10 years.” adding that the Ministry of Truth needed “to focus more on taking audience away from the broadcast networks, not the other cable networks.”
Not so fast Sidney Greenstreet. Check out last night’s ratings. At Midnight Eastern, Nine PM Pacific, Countdown in first place in the only ratings the industry cares about; viewers 25-54…beat Fox News and Brit Hume by 16,000…beat Larry King by 52,000…HOUSTON GOODBYE!…beat Glenn Beck by…..181,000?
Mr. Ailes might want to focus back on keeping the other cables news networks from taking audience from his own network…and leaving some food for Canada.
Olbermann Watch was beside itself…
Roger Ailes (and his “Ministry of Truth”)–this last with KO trumpeting how in his specialized “key demo” MSNBC beat Fox and the rest at midnight. Midnight! What key demo was he using, vampires? Left unreported was the fact that his witching hour total audience is still way below that of the competition.
Olberman Watch has a point. Unless MSNBC wants to only count ratings for repeats (though it was primetime on the West Coast), this amounts to damning with faint praise. How did Countdown do against the competition last night in the Demo on its first airing?
O’Reilly Factor - 419,000 viewers
Nancy Grace - 304,000 viewers
Deal or No Deal - 224,000 viewers
Paula Zahn Now - 164,000 viewers
Countdown - 157,000 viewers
Don’t you guys know anything? All networks covet the prized midnight block. You can advertise to stoners… and the unemployed… and that guy who lost his remote, but was too lazy to get up and change the channel… clearly they’re the golden demographic.
Great job Keith… now maybe if you try a little harder, tomorrow you can beat that rerun of ‘Deal or No Deal’.
Comment by ImNotBlue — September 29, 2006 @ 3:46 am
I saw this last night and I was amazed that Olbermann would distort the ratings, and willfully mislead his viewers like this. Completely ignoring the 8:00pm rating where he came in 5th in both demo and total viewers.
Comment by CompMike — September 29, 2006 @ 7:28 am
KO never seems to amaze me. Within the last couple of weeks Mr. Beck’s show has soundly trounced KO in the demo on several occasions. Did you hear Beck pull out his trusty trumpet?
Comment by Terance — September 29, 2006 @ 7:57 am
No offense but I think you guys are being a bit quaint sneering at the midnight hour. Not everyone goes to bed at nine so they can feed the chickens at six. Ignoring post-midnight is as foolish as movie execs ignoring the foreign and DVD after-markets (which, btw, they do NOT do). And midnight on the east coast is only nine in LA, after all.
Comment by Arthur — September 29, 2006 @ 8:23 am
Let this bobo boast all he can. Most of us are snoring at midnight. What a jerk!
Comment by RGL — September 29, 2006 @ 8:36 am
At nine in LA, I thought all kewl people were out partying in the Eden of the world as we know it….
Seriously, who gives a $@#$ about Olbermannnnn? He’s failed at least six times at cable tv - I just don’t understand how he keeps getting hired. Hasn’t he run out of networks yet? Oh, forgot - 500 channels an nothing to watch. He MIGHT be better than the four hundredth time you’ve watched “…set it and forget it…”. On second thought - I’ll stick with Ron Popiel - he’s funny and honest…
Comment by Jack — September 29, 2006 @ 8:39 am
OK, does this occur on a regular basis (i.e. does Countdown always win the midnight demo timeslot?)? If not, then this is gonna bite him in the butt when, god forbid, he comes in #2 or worse!
Comment by Anonymous — September 29, 2006 @ 9:04 am
Has the ratings game dipped that low? It’s a sad day for networks when they have to tout midnight ratings. And trust me, in LA, noone is staying in to watch KO.
Comment by craig — September 29, 2006 @ 9:58 am
I heard this too on last night’s show and was very puzzled about what he was talking about because I’d seen the ratings here and knew he’d come in last behind everyone else in the 8pm time slot. To boast about one “win” and to ignore the major time slot trouncing you got just seems intellectually dishonest to me. I used to love this guy, but now? Not so much. He’s just misleading his audience and people who don’t understand ratings and how they work will go around proclaiming he’s beating O’Reilly and that simply is not true in any way, shape, or form.
Comment by Alison — September 29, 2006 @ 10:02 am
Halloween is coming, and the time of Hocus Pocus is felt in the land.
And, yes, Virginia, there is a crazy man on television at midnight. No matter, child, the name. Just know that he could offer himself up to the alien gods as sacrifice, to raise his ratings. But even they can’t turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse.
By and by, the blight of Olbermann will flame out.
Comment by cella — September 29, 2006 @ 10:19 am
Olbermann isn’t the only one touting this meaningless “win”…
From TVN:
“MSNBC points out that Wednesday’s midnight repeat of Countdown with Keith Olbermann was cable’s #1 demo show for the hour, beating FNC, CNN and HLN…”
Comment by Frank — September 29, 2006 @ 10:46 am
watching Olbermann for one show and you know who he is going to bash for the rest ow the week.
Comment by don — September 29, 2006 @ 1:28 pm
Eaxctly Don, Olbermann is a one trick pony. Attack, attack, attack, that is the only way he can get any attention.
Comment by Buck — September 29, 2006 @ 5:40 pm
Midnight?
Comment by Goldfish — September 29, 2006 @ 6:42 pm
What you folks don’t understand is that midnight on the east coast is prime time on the west coast. Quite a few TV viewers out there.
Comment by redtoots — September 30, 2006 @ 5:31 pm
Yeah! And isn’t it funny that when Bill O’Reilly brags about his late-night reruns beating Olbermann, no one thinks HE is crazy or wacky.
Double standard…
Comment by tanne — October 3, 2006 @ 7:27 am
just let keith the left wing nut get him self in trouble with his sick humor.he couldn,t carry oreillys jock strap he would use it for a dust mask.
Comment by william — October 22, 2007 @ 10:21 pm