August Numbers: Top 25 Demo telecasts
Here is a list of the top 25 telecasts for August in the 25-54 Demo. Note that all but two, two O’Reilly Factor episodes, are of a breaking news/news special variety. The Mine Disaster and the Minneapolis bridge collapse dominated the month. Six of the top 10 and 14 of the top 25 were CNN programs. (numbers are Live+SD)
What’s more interesting is the fact that there are no MSNBC shows. Aren’t they always telling us how they are kicking ass in the ratings, and so on and so on.
I guess when you a ‘news’ channel that only shows old docs, it must be hard to really compete.
Comment by Zakk — August 28, 2007 @ 3:28 pm
But I think it did artifically boost their numbers. Go check out TVN. They’ve got a PR release straight from MSNBC boasting of those oh-so-fabulous numbers for the past month as compared to last August. I guess if you throw in increased viewership due to a disaster, yeah, your ratings are going to go up. So it’s obviously impacted their numbers, but I don’t see any analysis of those numbers going on at TVN or any speculation about WHY that is so. I’m afraid that MSNBC has actually begun to believe their PR spin. That’s what the scary part is. The real numbers tell a much diferent story though-they are still on the bottom.
Comment by Alison — August 28, 2007 @ 3:32 pm
Sure the mine tragedy and bridge collapse boosted MSNBC’s numbers but they also boosted the numbers for CNN and FNC. These numbers just prove that when news is breaking, viewers simply don’t turn to MSNBC.
Comment by Caufield — August 28, 2007 @ 4:01 pm
And why would they? As soon as that 10pm hour hits, they go to canned programming. And if it weren’t for these documentaries, their overall “sales prime” demo numbers would be crap and they know it.
Comment by Alison — August 28, 2007 @ 4:57 pm
6 of the top 10 for CNN? Impressive. Congratulations to CNN on an incredible August.
Comment by Ron — August 28, 2007 @ 6:20 pm
That’s a great turnaround for CNN from their showing in July.
Comment by Marty — August 28, 2007 @ 8:17 pm
Awesome month for CNN. 8 out of the top 25 were AC360. Cool. :D
Comment by shirley — August 29, 2007 @ 2:03 am
Not surprising that MSNBC isn’t in the top 25. I wouldn’t call the network a “disaster,” but they have been slipping farther behind CNN. Funny how they focus their network feuding on the big dog, Fox, when their real competition is CNN (although Abrams went after Amanpour’s 3 part documentary).
This fall will be a big test for Dan Abrams…heading into the election season, cable news should see a rise in viewership. They have a decent roster to work with, although I find Chris Matthews to be too annoying to be their point man. He didn’t handle the debate he moderated very well…I thought Olbermann was better, as much of an ideologue as he is.
Anyway, it should be interesting to see if MSNBC can make up some ground now that people will be paying attention to the political scene.
Comment by FishOil — August 30, 2007 @ 9:25 pm