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News & ArtsWednesday, September 1, 2010
Media Fox News Claims All Top 10 Cable News Shows
Posted by Dominic Holden on Wed, Sep 1, 2010 at 8:21 AM
The Huffingotn Post reports this morning that the top 11 shows on cable news are all Fox News products. Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck own the three leading spots, in that order, which helps explain the genocide of intellectual thought at last weekend's Glenn Beck rally in Washington, D.C. "The channel averaged 1,821,000 viewers in prime time and 441,000 in the A25-54 demo—nearly three times the ratings of second-place MSNBC," HuffPo says. The first show outside the Rupert Murdoch empire is Countdown With Keith Olbermann* in 12th place.
Fox News viewers are the oldest TV audience in the country. So if I find only one source of potential consolation in this news (though I'm sure there are several others), it's that those old people will die soon. But in the near term, they're also the most likely to vote. I'm in favor of cloning Chase Whiteside and unleashing an army of adroit reporters to expose the torrential stupidness that Fox News showers on middle America.
PS — Keith Olbernamm, much as I try, drives me nuts.
1
Oh Dominic, you slay me.
Don't count on these old people to die soon. We are getting better and better at keeping old people alive (whether they really want to be or not). They have nothing better to do than watch FOX and vote for Sarah Palin.
Remember how in The Graduate the word of the future was "plastics"? The word of the future if you want a job for life? Geriatrics.
Don't count on these old people to die soon. We are getting better and better at keeping old people alive (whether they really want to be or not). They have nothing better to do than watch FOX and vote for Sarah Palin.
Remember how in The Graduate the word of the future was "plastics"? The word of the future if you want a job for life? Geriatrics.
2
I wonder what the combined viewership of the major mainstream cable news is.
If a right winger wants to see news with a clear conservative bias, they only have one place to go: Fox News. Therefor, Fox gets virtually 100% of the conservative news viewers.
But if a moderate or liberal wants to see unbiased news (more-or-less), they have dozens of choices. And I would guess this group is also more likely to read news online or from a paper rather than consume cable news. So this viewership is spread out over a wider variety of sources.
It's still alarming that Fox News gets that kind of viewership, but I don't think it indicates that the conservative viewpoint is that dominant.
If a right winger wants to see news with a clear conservative bias, they only have one place to go: Fox News. Therefor, Fox gets virtually 100% of the conservative news viewers.
But if a moderate or liberal wants to see unbiased news (more-or-less), they have dozens of choices. And I would guess this group is also more likely to read news online or from a paper rather than consume cable news. So this viewership is spread out over a wider variety of sources.
It's still alarming that Fox News gets that kind of viewership, but I don't think it indicates that the conservative viewpoint is that dominant.
3
HAH! Does this not prove that there is a conservative, traditionalist majority in America thirsting for truth that the lamestream media will not report?
We would never know the truth about the DOJ's refusal to prosecute acts of voter intimidation against white people by blacks, or that the Arizona immigration law strictly forbids racial profiling, or the corrupt machinations of the Marxist homosexual to ram that awful socialized health care bill down our throats, or the real story behind the jihadists trying to build a victory mosque at Ground Zero if it weren't for Fox News (and talk radio as well).
So of course you're going to ring your hands that they are #1. And you'll really be ringing your hands once the Marxist Fascists are kicked out of Congress in November, and are replaced by tax cutting conservatives!
ROTFLMAO!!!
We would never know the truth about the DOJ's refusal to prosecute acts of voter intimidation against white people by blacks, or that the Arizona immigration law strictly forbids racial profiling, or the corrupt machinations of the Marxist homosexual to ram that awful socialized health care bill down our throats, or the real story behind the jihadists trying to build a victory mosque at Ground Zero if it weren't for Fox News (and talk radio as well).
So of course you're going to ring your hands that they are #1. And you'll really be ringing your hands once the Marxist Fascists are kicked out of Congress in November, and are replaced by tax cutting conservatives!
ROTFLMAO!!!
4
@1 is correct - the average population of this country gets older with every passing day. This is not going to go away any time soon.
8
Of course tv viewership across the board is heading down to something like it was in the early 1960s (remember in MadMen where the guy proposes a "Tv department" for the first time).
More interesting would be stats on who is reading Progressive, Conservative blogs.
10
@1:
Except of course if they manage to take control of the House & Senate in the upcoming mid-term elections, gut the Health bill, and watch in confused consternation as their insurance premiums skyrocket into the stratosphere.
Then, they'll start dropping like the proverbial flies...
@2:
Daily averages for the other cable news nets (CNN, MSNBC, CNBC & HLN) tends to run about equal with FOX overall, which averages about 1.3 mm viewers per day. However, FOX prime time news tends to swamp the competition with about 2.8 mm average viewers compared to a combined 2.15 mm for the others.
Keep in mind, however, the above represents average viewership, not necessarily those who are watching specific programs like Beck, O'Reilly et al, and of course the prime time programs are a completely different beast from the talk shows.
Also, it's important to compare these numbers to network news programs: NBC leads the "Big Three" in prime time with an average viewership of just under 10 mm, with ABC running about 8.25 and CBS at 6.5, for a combined average viewership of roughly 24.75 mm; or approximately 10 times the combined viewership for all cable news programs.
Finally, it should be noted that Beck's show in particular is in dire straights, having lost approximately 30% of his viewers just since the beginning of the year, and this in an environment where ALL cable news talk shows have been losing viewers since the spring of 2009 (O'Reilly has only lost a modest 3% during that time, while Hannity has lost 17%. OTOH, liberals aren't faring any better: Maddow's numbers have dropped by about 8%, Olbermann down 28% and Cooper down 41%) Publicity stunts like his "Restoring Dignity" rally in Washington D.C. are clearly efforts by FOX to pull some of those viewers back into the fold.
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Except of course if they manage to take control of the House & Senate in the upcoming mid-term elections, gut the Health bill, and watch in confused consternation as their insurance premiums skyrocket into the stratosphere.
Then, they'll start dropping like the proverbial flies...
@2:
Daily averages for the other cable news nets (CNN, MSNBC, CNBC & HLN) tends to run about equal with FOX overall, which averages about 1.3 mm viewers per day. However, FOX prime time news tends to swamp the competition with about 2.8 mm average viewers compared to a combined 2.15 mm for the others.
Keep in mind, however, the above represents average viewership, not necessarily those who are watching specific programs like Beck, O'Reilly et al, and of course the prime time programs are a completely different beast from the talk shows.
Also, it's important to compare these numbers to network news programs: NBC leads the "Big Three" in prime time with an average viewership of just under 10 mm, with ABC running about 8.25 and CBS at 6.5, for a combined average viewership of roughly 24.75 mm; or approximately 10 times the combined viewership for all cable news programs.
Finally, it should be noted that Beck's show in particular is in dire straights, having lost approximately 30% of his viewers just since the beginning of the year, and this in an environment where ALL cable news talk shows have been losing viewers since the spring of 2009 (O'Reilly has only lost a modest 3% during that time, while Hannity has lost 17%. OTOH, liberals aren't faring any better: Maddow's numbers have dropped by about 8%, Olbermann down 28% and Cooper down 41%) Publicity stunts like his "Restoring Dignity" rally in Washington D.C. are clearly efforts by FOX to pull some of those viewers back into the fold.
11
Where does "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" fall into the rankings? Those are the news shows I'm most likely to watch.
12
1.85 million viewers is less than the top 25 broadcast and less than the top 25 cable non-news shows:
Cable
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/08/31/cab…
broadcast
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/08/31/tv-…
The top viewed show was the Emmy's with 13 million viewers. There are 300 million people in this country.
In sum, Fox News is at the top of a really small heap. Cable news viewership means nothing.
Cable
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/08/31/cab…
broadcast
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/08/31/tv-…
The top viewed show was the Emmy's with 13 million viewers. There are 300 million people in this country.
In sum, Fox News is at the top of a really small heap. Cable news viewership means nothing.
15
@11 - Daily Show averages about 2 million, and the Colbert Report about 1.5. Glenn Beck's peak was over 3+ million, but he's suffered year-over-year decline since then, and is about even with Colbert now. I'd imagine Beck's numbers are tied directly into the "news" cycle, and his steady decline was probably the biggest motivator for holding that rally.
Of course these programs mostly compete within their genre—which FNC paints a bit broadly, especially in Beck's case—but to add some perspective, none of their ratings touch Jersey Shore and Paw Stars, or be as predictably high as SpongeBob SquarePants (pun!) and the Wrestling programs have been for the last decade.
Of course these programs mostly compete within their genre—which FNC paints a bit broadly, especially in Beck's case—but to add some perspective, none of their ratings touch Jersey Shore and Paw Stars, or be as predictably high as SpongeBob SquarePants (pun!) and the Wrestling programs have been for the last decade.
16
OK...let's hold up on that "old" bit for a minute. I'm in my fifties and I have NEVER gone near Fox News - except when it was the default station turning on a TV in a hotel room.
Here's a little story. I returned to school for a new degree in mid-life a few year back. Sitting in class one day (and this Southern California school had way more of its share of Jennifer Aniston wannabees) one of the tanned, white-white toothed blondes told the professor in open class without a hint of irony (insert Orange County dialect), "You should watch Fox News. I watch it to get the REAL story."
She couldn't have been more than 23 or 24. Don't give that old shit, please. There are tons of young assholes, too. I'm surprised you didn't know that.
Here's a little story. I returned to school for a new degree in mid-life a few year back. Sitting in class one day (and this Southern California school had way more of its share of Jennifer Aniston wannabees) one of the tanned, white-white toothed blondes told the professor in open class without a hint of irony (insert Orange County dialect), "You should watch Fox News. I watch it to get the REAL story."
She couldn't have been more than 23 or 24. Don't give that old shit, please. There are tons of young assholes, too. I'm surprised you didn't know that.
17
@16 - Yep, Southern California is especially replete with the type you described. I don't buy the "it's all old people" line either. I know it's hard for us (myself included) to see outside our bubbles, but just stop and think; what are your cousins going to watch when they get home from work?
21
Cable TV isn't really anything to get excited about - everything still has pretty shitty numbers. On the other hand, Drudge Report had 772,638,752 page views during the month of August.
22
It proves only one thing. FNC provides what the public wants to hear, unlike the vile smearing, appearance belittling, non-informative, and non-entertaining dribble, the mainstays of Olbermann, Matthews, Maddow and Schultz; worse-worser-worsest and totally indescribable.
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