HLN beats MSNBC in dayside news two months in a row…
During the months of November and December, in the head to head matchup between dayside Monday to Friday 9-5pm newscasts, HLN beat MSNBC; the first time this has happened in over a year. Here are the numbers…
November 9am-5pm Live+SD ratings
|
Network |
Dates |
HH |
HH |
P 2+ |
P 25-54 |
December 9am-5pm Live+SD ratings
|
Network |
Dates |
HH |
HH |
P 2+ |
P 25-54 |
(Apologies for the alignment being off on the tables a bit. It looks perfectly aligned in my preview window but shows up wrong posted)
There is a caveat here and that is that HLN runs one hour of tape at 11am with a Showbiz Tonight repeat and I couldn’t get that factored out of these numbers. But aside from that a pattern has begun to emerge and it’s not good news for MSNBC dayside. In November and December during the head to head matchup of dayside news coverage, more viewers preferred HLN, particularly in the Demo. Of the two months, the December numbers are more alarming because MSNBC had an 8% HH advantage while the Total Viewers were a push but HLN had an 11% advantage in the Demo. This points to MSNBC’s dayside audience getting noticeably older in December. That’s a problem.
What could have caused this? Being on the outside looking in, it’s hard to say what the contributing factors were that could have caused the drop off. But, there are a couple of possibilities that leap immediately to mind and both occurred in late October. One, MSNBC moved to 30 Rock and a new set. Maybe the shift is a reaction to the set? That seems thin to me; that people would be so superficial that they’d tune out because they didn’t like a set. Two, a change may have occurred in news coverage/focus brought on by the management switch that occurred at the end of October when Shannon High-Bassalik, who had no prior national news experience, took over as Managing Editor. I have noticed changes on MSNBC since the move. Some things, like Morning Joe, got better. Other things, like the political coverage, slipped in my eyes. Additionally, there may also be some over-the-air fallout from the cuts that were made in December to operations.
The silver lining for MSNBC is that primary season is here and that has boosted ratings for the network across the board. But will things begin to erode again once the primaries cool off? Or will corrective action have been taken to prevent that from happening again? In the meantime, HLN has something to crow about…
Relatively speaking, the total viewer differences are still pretty small so I don’t think MSNBC has anything to worry about at this point. I’m sure January will show MSNBC widening the gap between HLN. However, I’m not sure how much of a boost Showbiz Tonight gives HLN because it IS a repeat from the day before — I’m not 100% sure, but I think the monthly ranker from last month put Showbiz Tonite BELOW HLN dayside in ratings (the 11am airing was broken out separately).
Comment by Anonymous — January 22, 2008 @ 11:30 am
This really comes as no surprise to me. Ken Jautz is doing a great job. Its a wonder CNN hasn’t replaced Klein with him yet.
Comment by Terance — January 22, 2008 @ 11:39 am
How’s that switch to “All-Bush Bashing ‘News’” looking now, Capus?
The almost unwatchable HLN is gonna beat you after February 5th, and there’s nothing you can do about it….
Comment by Nick D. — January 22, 2008 @ 11:49 am
Maybe MSNBC needs to expand their “Women in Prison” programming?
Comment by Jim — January 22, 2008 @ 12:20 pm
Or maybe MSNBC should reinstate Tucker at 4pm ET!
Comment by Ira — January 22, 2008 @ 12:42 pm
How does Phil Griffin get out of this clean? It’s obviously his fault–he runs the place, not High.
Comment by William — January 22, 2008 @ 1:07 pm
If Tucker goes back to 4ET Ira I hope he would get to be live at 4 and 6 not a crappy repeat at 6ET. Also, maybe if MSNBC had anchors working regular hours they might get people to stick. Some days I get the lovely Ms. Hall, some days I get Jansing, some days I get Brewer, some days Witt. Maybe MSNBC will put someone in the same hour the WHOLE week or maybe even permanently.
Comment by Aaron — January 22, 2008 @ 4:30 pm
MSNBC doesn’t care about daytime programming. They want numbers at night, Olbermann gives them the numbers, so he gets the most attention. Countdown is the ONLY LIVE SHOW on MSNBC that can give CNN a run for its money in the timeslot.
All the crime docs don’t count, and even if they get better ratings than CNN or FOX in certain demos or once in a while total viewers, it’s like comparing apples to oranges. Let them brag about having great demo numbers, in the end, Cable Companies and viewers will read between the lines. Dish Network has MSNBC on a more expensive package… FIOS can’t carry MSNBC in Cablevision serviced areas… Comcast is dumping them to digital only… you really think Comcast would do that to FOX or CNN? FOX gets great numbers and brings in decent revenue to local ad sales… CNN has been around for over 25 years and the brand alone can bring in decent local ad sales… but what does MSNBC offer? Documentaries and 2 weeks of Olympics coverage (that cable MSO’s have to pay EXTRA for) every other year?
The MSNBC doomsday is coming. It’s just a matter of time.
Comment by Nobody — January 22, 2008 @ 4:51 pm
Well, I think MSNBC is doing great. And the criteria for success is not just measured through ratings. The margin Headline News is beating them by in daytime is very small and can be overcome. Especially with all the political events coming up. While MSNBC does cover some of the rediculous stories, I appreciate the fact they are mostly politics and world events. Headline News is stupid, tabloid, tragedy TV. A lot of stupid people watch a lot of stupid stories.
Comment by Paco — January 23, 2008 @ 3:07 am