Schonfeld on the numbers…
Reese blogs about the April ratings…
The biggest news is the age of the FoxNews audience. For the month, FoxNews was the third most watched cable network in prime time, an enormous achievement. But in Adults 25-54, it fell to seventeenth. CNN was 25th in prime time audience and 24th in numbers of 25-54, a far more efficient ratio. This prompts me to ask two questions. First, is the conservative audience very old and may we then draw the conclusion that conservatives are an aging lot? Second, is CNN’s good performance due largely to a surge of younger viewers who turned to CNN to find out about the Virginia Tech story?
FoxNews had the seventh largest total day audience of all cable networks. CNN did better in total day numbers. Still an outstanding performance, but in 25-54’s, they were again seventeenth. CNN, which trailed Fox by an 8-5 ratio, was twenty-forth in audience size and twenty-fifth in 25-54’s. Of interest, Fox was twenty-third in the 18-49 category and CNN was twenty-ninth; that’s a 5-4 ratio in comparison to the 8-5 of total audience. The Fox audience remains huge and old.
In total audience CNN beat MSNBC 5-3 and MSNBC beat Headline better than 3-2. MSNBC again showed the greatest gain in total day viewers, 34% as opposed to Headline’s 18%. So, to me at least, if April means anything at all, it’s that MSNBC is rushing forwards and Fox is still aging. MSNBC’s results may not be as good next month, Imus is gone.
“The Fox audience remains huge and old.”
I don’t feel like doing a Google Image of Mr. Schonfeld right now, but I’d bet that it is HE who is huge and old!
And who cares about this age distinction? It is obvious that as people get older, they are less active and watch more TV. So many of them watch Fox News. But what about the younger audience - even they prefer Fox over MSNBC and CNN! Take that, Mr. Schonfeld’s!
I could see a competitor making a distinction between the demographics if it would make either CNN or MSNBC the leader here, but that’s not the case. His two networks lose any way the numbers are measured.
Too bad he had to resort to the pejoratives he used. Does he think that will help bring in more audience for his favorites? I doubt it.
Comment by Missy — May 8, 2007 @ 12:30 am
Sorry for the posessive (”Mr. Schonfeld’s”). I proofread before I posted - really!
Comment by Missy — May 8, 2007 @ 12:32 am
heck i tend to think Schonfeld is always pro-fnc. he’s always appearing on fnc’s shows. the numbers speak for themselves…and proves fnc’s audience is huge but old. missy and so many others just cant take the facts. i guess that’s why they watch fnc, where facts dont matter!
Comment by Me — May 8, 2007 @ 12:49 am
“Me”, I certainly can take the facts. First, I take issue with him calling Fox’s audience “huge and old”. And again, what good does it do him to play with statistics when even Fox’s YOUNGER audience is far greater than its competition.
Comment by Missy — May 8, 2007 @ 2:46 am
The P2(25-54) numbers, the most coveted audience, for Fox& friends 1st have nearly doubled in April, since Alisyn Camerota came back from her maternity leave and started hosting M-F.
Alisyn is bringing in a larger and younger audience.
Comment by malone — May 8, 2007 @ 7:57 am
fnc audience are consistent, young or old. Most young people don’t even know who the vice president is or the secretary of state. I would be willilng to bet there are very few 25 to 30 y.ol watching. Most young people turn to Entertainment Tonight for their news or comedy central with s. colbert
Comment by cathy — May 8, 2007 @ 9:37 am
Just look at the channels FNC is competing with to draw in younger viewers. There’s no way a news channel is going to beat channels with movies, cartoons, wrestling, tv/reality series etc…. Also I would like to see this list, could be 17th to 10th could just be 100 thousand+ viewers, gotta put it in context
Comment by Lurker — May 8, 2007 @ 9:57 am
A few observations
1. FNC appears to win in every age group. They must be doing something right.
2. “The conservative audience very old and May we then draw the conclusion that conservatives are an aging lot?” But the numbers say the young audience is mostly conservative also but to the same magnitude. Also this trend bodes very well for FNC because as people age they tend to become more conservative and the overall population is aging rapidly. I was liberal in my youth and became more conservative as time went by.
3. ‘Is CNN’s good performance due largely to a surge of younger viewers who turned to CNN to find out about the Virginia Tech story?” How can a 2nd place performance be called a good performance. It may be a better than a past poor performance but 2nd place in essentially a two horse race is not good in an objective analysis.
Did I miss interpret any of these numbers?
Comment by steve L — May 8, 2007 @ 10:35 am
Missy: I’ll bet that Spud’s favorite old codger had previously played with this flawed 25-54, 18-49 analysis but saved it for the appropriate time, like when Fox reached its highest overall level (Number #3) in cable total audience.
Me: I know it is pointless arguing with you but it has been at least six months since I saw Schonfeld on Fox.
Comment by Ira — May 8, 2007 @ 12:17 pm
I didnt think this was anything new. Hasnt it been established that Fox’s viewers on average are old?
Comment by Randy — May 8, 2007 @ 3:18 pm
The P2(25-54) numbers, the most coveted audience, for Fox& friends 1st have nearly doubled in April, since Alisyn Camerota came back from her maternity leave and started hosting M-F
That is not accurate. FnF 1st’s Demo number has only gone up 11% since Camerota returned from Maternity leave.
Comment by Spud — May 8, 2007 @ 3:21 pm
The vast majority of cable news viewers are older — FNC just happens to have more of them then the competition.
Comment by Caufield — May 8, 2007 @ 3:57 pm