Oh this will drive O’Reilly nuts…
The New York Times’ Steven McElroy writes that Countdown with Keith Olbermann will air on NBC this Sunday before an NFL pre-season game…
“ ‘Countdown’ is rocketing right now over at MSNBC — its ratings are going through the roof,” said Phil Griffin, senior vice president of NBC News. (In July Mr. Olbermann’s show averaged 721,000 viewers, an increase of 88 percent over last July, according to MSNBC.) Mr. Griffin added, “The world has changed, and I think people have come in line with the smart, focused approach he has on the show.” No immediate plans for additional network appearances of “Countdown” have been made, but Mr. Griffen did not rule them out. “It may be the first of several times you see Olbermann on the network,” he said.
I questioned why Cavuto would be part of the Superbowl. But after seeing this I may have to rethink my position because though these cross-promotional efforts are really getting out of hand…they seem to be the norm now.
UPDATE: Ok, I’m slow but this didn’t click with me at the time I posted it…
” ‘Countdown’ is rocketing right now over at MSNBC — its ratings are going through the roof,” said Phil Griffin, senior vice president of NBC News.
Hang on. Let’s have some perspective here. Countdown’s ratings may be “going through the roof” if you use the standard of MSNBC’s history for that timeslot. I don’t think MSNBC has ever had a program that strong that consistently in its entire primetime history (but as I don’t have its history in front of me, I’ll conceed that’s just an educated guess).
But all that means is it has become competive with CNN at that hour. Sometimes it’s a three way race with HLN. Countdown is still nowhere close to touching FNC’s “O’Reilly Factor”. But after reading Griffin’s quip that you’d think Countdown was dominating the ratings landscape at 8pm.
So basically what Griffin is saying is that if Olbermann does well on the network, they’ll cancel the MSNBC show and put it on the network. Nothing that does well on MSNBC ever actually stays on MSNBC… It’s amazing how all of the sudden NBC has taken interest in him now that his ratings are increasing. The larger story here is how Olbermann is going to balance “network” vs. “cable”… is he going to turn into another Lester Holt? Remember how when Lester started doing weekend today, he would host “Lester Holt Live” two, maybe three days out of the week, and the rest of the time he was prepping for his weekend program… and his cable program ended up having various rotating guest hosts until it was cancelled… you can bet if Olbermann pulls in good numbers on the network, they will not hesitate to use him more, which will mean you will see less of him on MSNBC, which will mean the MSNBC numbers will drop… which ultimately will mean his show will be gone because he will be working full time for NBC sports.
Comment by Nobody — August 20, 2007 @ 9:38 am
Hmm. Check me if I’m wrong Spud but at the time NBC signed Olbermann for the NFL gig didn’t they say that he would NOT be expressing political opinions on the mothership network in these NFL broadcasts? So why the change in plans now?
Comment by Alison — August 20, 2007 @ 9:46 am
We have to remember that “through the roof” is a very relative term when your highest rated program still can’t break into the top 15 most watches cable news programs.
Comment by Caufield — August 20, 2007 @ 9:47 am
Caufield, Olbermann has the highest rated average monthly viewership number of any program, EVER airing on MSNBC in the 11 years the network has been on the air. So it’s rightfully a big deal for them. Griffin, Capus, and Abrams are making a huge mistake. They should leave Olbermann on MSNBC so he can continue to grow his audience. Having him on NBC will make him less available to be on MSNBC, and that’s going to kill the 8PM numbers if he isn’t hosting…
Comment by Nobody — August 20, 2007 @ 9:53 am
Cavuto’s humor will be clean & upbeat with a dash of plugging the FBC. So what’s wrong with that? He ought to also, give advice on use of the bucks that go to the overpaid gangster players. Now THAT’S football 2007 style.
Comment by Roger C. — August 20, 2007 @ 10:29 am
Check me if I’m wrong Spud but at the time NBC signed Olbermann for the NFL gig didn’t they say that he would NOT be expressing political opinions on the mothership network in these NFL broadcasts? So why the change in plans now?
The way I read it, you’re wrong. This isn’t part of the NFL’s broadcast so if we go by strict interpretation, no they aren’t reversing themselves. That said, it is before the game so it is obvious they’re trying to associate Olberamann the NBC NFL Sports guy with Olbermann the MSNBC Countdown host by featuring both on the channel on the same night. So while they technically didn’t revese themselves, it sure looks like they did.
Comment by Spud — August 20, 2007 @ 10:47 am
Steven McElroy of the New York Times alleges (with no evidence, of course) that: “Meltdown with Keith Olbermann” is a “highly rated cable news program”. “[H]ighly rated”? “[N]ews program”? “[N]ews”? ROTFLMAO! Out of the five words quoted from McElroy, the poor fool only got one word correct: “cable”.
Comment by Tom — August 20, 2007 @ 11:20 am
And NBC’s extremely sharp left turn emerges again and sinks the networks credibility even lower.
If this is the standard Countdown…the first 2 segments will be wholeheartedly biased against Bush/Republicans and toward Hillary/Dems.. he’ll say “Fox Noise” at least once, he’ll bash Bill O’Reilly, and only conservatives/
Republicans will be “Worst Persons in the World”.
If NBC really wants an ultra-left wing hit job on its network and thinks that’s going to appeal to football fans.. have at it.
Comment by bigred — August 20, 2007 @ 11:27 am
How much more of this do we have to take? So what if Countdown is MSNBC’s highest rated program? It’s still extremely lowly rated when compared with the programs on the other cable networks. And MSNBC AND Countdown have been on long enough to garner better ratings, if it were to happen.
It is sickening to hear such words as the the ratings are “rocketing” and “going through the roof” when any idiot that can read a chart can see that is clearly not the case. Mr. Griffin insults cable news audiences with such rhetoric.
And I doubt whether O’Reilly will go “nuts” over this - he’s been on network TV as well. And aren’t most football fans more conservative in nature anyway? NBC may do nothing more than to alienate half the country by exposing Olbermann to the masses.
Comment by Missy — August 20, 2007 @ 11:42 am
See this chart:
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/original/paulachartjune192.jpg
It shows that Countdown’s numbers have plateaued. They are not “going through the roof”
Comment by Missouri Show Me — August 20, 2007 @ 11:47 am
What gets me is that the NYT prints these allegations of “skyrocketing” ratings without any perspective (i.e., he’s not even close to O’Reilly in the ratings nor has he ever been) or how lowly rated his show is when comparing the cable landscape in retrospect to all the other cable news programs. Yet the lie is repeated over and over again that he is a ratings success. Does anyone fact-check anymore or bother to provide analysis or in-sight beyond simply repeating the PR talking points and selective sound-bites from the TV Execs?
Comment by Alison — August 20, 2007 @ 12:06 pm
Missy, I was just making a point, trust me, I am not defending MSNBC at all. But Olbermann having that high number averaging out over an entire month… I’ll give it to them, it’s a big deal (for them at least).
But, don’t expect the numbers to last. Once Olbermann goes to the network, if they give him more and more time, he will need more time to prep.. which will mean he will become a part time host on his program on MSNBC. Remember what happened to Lester Holt? He had a program “Lester Holt Live”… before he started doing Weekend Today, he was there all the time, but once he started doing Weekend Today, he only host three, MAYBE four days a week… then it went down to two days a week… and at one point before they cancelled the program, he didn’t host it at all for weeks.
O’Reilly might go nuts… but it will be because NBC is starting to steal him from MSNBC, and MSNBC will never win… and once that happens, his 8PM show will be history and probably get replaced by another hour of the DOC BLOCK.
Comment by Nobody — August 20, 2007 @ 12:16 pm
well last night before the nfl football game on nbc they ran gymnastics, so maybe they are trying out different things. before the football game during the regular season will be the pregame show itself, so this is probably just trying something different out. I will be watching it, I know that much.
Comment by Chris (My Two Sense) — August 20, 2007 @ 12:22 pm
O’Reilly hasn’t said a word this morning on the Radio Factor.
The only way “Countdown” can work on NBC is if it runs late, late night, maybe as a replacement for “Poker After Dark.”
Comment by Ira — August 20, 2007 @ 12:31 pm
The ratings are going through the roof. But in the two story house that is MSNBC, the roof is a lot lower.
Comment by ImNotBlue — August 20, 2007 @ 1:21 pm
IMB, LOL!!!!
And Nobody, I understand what you’re saying. And I agree w/Alison, in that just because someone says something doesn’t mean that the media has to print it as fact. The NYT and other outlets owe the viewers some accuracy and fact-checking, and while they can quote Griffin, they are responsible for pointing out that what he says is his opinion alone, and bears little truth when compared with the ratings of many MUCH more successful programs on cable news.
Comment by Missy — August 20, 2007 @ 2:01 pm
ImNotBlue your on the right track. But MSNBC is in the basement of cable news, therefore their roof is very low indeed.
Comment by lalo — August 20, 2007 @ 4:14 pm