The battle for 2nd…
Variety’s Michael Learmonth writes about last week’s numbers…
The race for second-place in cable news is suddenly getting heated.
Last week, MSNBC edged CNN in the 25-54 demographic in primetime, a rare win for the third-place news net.
In the same week, CNN.com edged MSNBC.com in web traffic, according to Hitwise, making CNN.com the third most-visited news site behind Yahoo News and The Weather Channel.
MSNBC’s demo win came in a week when CNN subbed Headline News’ Glenn Beck for “Paula Zahn Now” at 8 pm and MSNBC devoted three hours on July 4 to episodes of the “To Catch A Predator” series from “Dateline.”
But as the article itself states - the numbers are skewed by those disastrous Glenn Beck specials and MSNBC’s doc-block marathon on July 4. Nothing has changed meaningfully, CNN is still regularly second and MSNBC seems to flit between third and fourth more than it does second.
Comment by Mr A — July 11, 2007 @ 7:00 am
Mr A, are we reading the same article? It did not say that the ratings were ’skewed’ by subbing Beck for Zahn. Zahn herself does not get great ratings in the prized demo. They just washed each other out. Also, MSNBC showed re-runs on July 4th. Pathetic that could help bring them to this second place finish. But good nevertheless. Again people, don’t underestimate MSNBC. They’re just getting started.
Comment by Peoplepeople — July 11, 2007 @ 8:23 am
#2 “Again people, don’t underestimate MSNBC. They’re just getting started.”
Yea, after about 10 years we are still in third place, but don’t give up because our lousy strategy and liberal news bias is about to work. Any day now!
Comment by Steve L — July 11, 2007 @ 9:27 am
I just saw TV Newser’s comments that Olbermann “trounced” Glenn Beck at 8 p.m. last week.
Sorry, but there may not have been a lot of people who even knew Beck was on at that time. Even I (a Beck fan) kept forgetting to watch at that time, and I’m sure others did as well.
Put Beck up against KO permanently, and it will be Keith who will be trounced!
Comment by Missy — July 11, 2007 @ 10:01 am
Missy, didn’t I see tons of GB promos on CNN & HLN about his 8pm specials? Anyway, I still subscribe to the theory that PZ has ruined the 8pm slot. So, it doesn’t really matter who they put in there. The ratings will remain stagnant until I’m proven otherwise.
Comment by Terance — July 11, 2007 @ 10:45 am
Terance, that could be. But in my case, I often don’t have the TV turned to CNN or HN, so I would not have seen the ads, and that may be true of others as well. I basically just watch Lou Dobbs, and Anderson Cooper on occasion.
Comment by Missy — July 11, 2007 @ 10:51 am
Steve L, you’ll be eating your very words my friend.
Comment by Peoplepeople — July 11, 2007 @ 10:53 am
Peoplepeople, the facts are that the overall numbers for the week were skewed by the poor performance of the Beck specials on CNN and the relatively high numbers of the Predator docs on MSNBC. I’m not underestimating anything, just reading the ratings that Spud posts everyday.
Comment by Mr A — July 11, 2007 @ 2:50 pm
Mr. A, the “poor performance” of Beck was right on par with PZ’s usual numbers, yes?
Comment by Terance — July 11, 2007 @ 2:56 pm
Thank you Terance. They’re just not getting ‘it’!
Comment by Peoplepeople — July 11, 2007 @ 3:07 pm
Sorry kids, July 4th was Wednesday, the middle of a shortened week.
Varieties numbers perhaps are not SKEWED, but they are disingenuous at best.
You can’t use a summer holiday week to pronounce a ratings tightening. Sorry, don’t think you get it.
As for you 2, the only thing I see “getting started” is Fox Bidness Network. The bar couldn’t be lower for those at Msnbc and they can’t even get their shadows to watch.
Cue the Mr. Hammer music ..
Hmmm - July 11, 3:43 pm
Comment by Hmmm — July 11, 2007 @ 3:43 pm
I think you’re right about CNN’s 8pm slot Terance. The only way make it competitive again is to put Larry King there.
Comment by erljr — July 11, 2007 @ 3:52 pm
Hey, Hmmm! Have you ever thought of walking around town with a sandwich board on advertising FNC & Fox Biz?
Comment by Terance — July 11, 2007 @ 3:57 pm
Who is this ‘they’ #10? You speak as if i have an axe to grind - don’t lump me in with the Fox Fans! There’s nothing wrong with questioning the premise that just because of one week, MSNBC is suddenly a threat to CNN’s second place. Such stories have cropped up regularly recently and disappear just as quickly, proving to be false dawns.
Comment by Mr A — July 11, 2007 @ 4:02 pm
I still do not see how Beck was suppose to put a dent in the Countdown ratings. It seems to make sense that he would do worse than Paula. One week over a holiday seems a little premature to be crowing about losing second place.
Comment by Obama in 08! — July 11, 2007 @ 4:31 pm
Sorry, just trying to keep y’all grounded. It’s really gonna be quite ugly in a few months.
As for you 14, 10 says everyone has and ground axe. But I’m guessing you would say your a moderate or independent, right?
Hmmm - July 11, 2007 @ 432 pm
Comment by Hmmm — July 11, 2007 @ 4:33 pm
With more viewer choices available, NBC and MSNBC are falling by the wayside because of their long standing problem with news objectivity and lack of ideological diversity. The management caters to the tastes and preferences of the Upper East Side Elite. This just keeps making the market for Fox bigger and bigger and they must be very pleased that GE is doing nothing about its market share loss.
Can anyone name a reporter for NBC with a conservative point of view? We can all name quite a few with a liberal point of view (For example, In NBC’s book there is no other side to the global warming debate). In a perfect world we would get both sides with equal vigor from any news organization. Free markets are wonderful and we are witnessing an end to the elite MSM monopoly of the news. It’s a lot of fun to watch.
Comment by Steve L — July 11, 2007 @ 4:44 pm
Alll I know is that I enjoy watching MSNBC, CNN, FOX, and HEADLINE NEWS. I wouldn’t want to lose any of them. They are all different and I like each of them for different reasons.
Comment by Ladyone — July 11, 2007 @ 7:13 pm
Steve L, that is so true. Isn’t it ironic that Congress wants to apply the “Fairness Doctrine” to talk radio, the only venue in which conservative views prevail? Yet they have no plans to apply it to the any of the network or cable TV venues (all of which are liberal, except for moderate Fox) or our nation’s mostly left-of-center newspapers and magazines.
Comment by Missy — July 11, 2007 @ 8:20 pm