Note that Olbermann won in the 25-54 demo on 10/21. If I am not mistaken, that's the second time he's beaten O'Reilly in the demo in the year or so that we've been tracking this race. If commenters know about any extraordinary circumstances for either show on that day, please let us know. However, the long term trends for both shows in the chart below don't show any convergence in their long term lines. I know I promised some shorter term interpolations in that chart, but it's late, I'll get to it next week. 
Long Term Trend of O'Reilly vs. Olbermann TV Ratings:
For complete information on all cable news ratings check our daily cable news ratings posts.
Nielsen Cable Network Coverage Estimates (as of March, 2008)
CNN/HLN: 96.93 million HHs
CNBC: 95.13 million HHs
FNC: 94.55 million HHs
MSNBC: 91.59 million HHs
Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
OK, English please. I just saw Olbermann tomight (10/24) get on TV and declare that he’s been kicking O’Reilly’s ass for some time now. Did he lie, or what?
Olbermann did lied. O’Reilly is been on top for a long time, way better show!
“If commenters know about any extraordinary circumstances for either show on that day, please let us know. ” – Bill Gorman
Well the question more pertinant is how did Papa Bear Bill O’Reilly recovered from the smackdown the next day. Simply cuz Caribou Barbie appeared on Hannity and O’Reilly riding on Hannity’s coattails saw his ratings jump up. I bet Countdown will start beating O’Reilly daily now onwards unless ofcourse Caribou Barbie or McInsane shows up on Hannity or O’Reilly. For pure comic value I watch Faux Noise those days.
Also save those fake charts. You should only 5 year charts of Countdown and Factor and show how Olbermann is up 670% while Bill O the Clown is down 50%. Also show how Olbermann is up 3000% in the key 25-54 demo in that period while O’Reilly is down 50%. At this rate Olbermann will be at 15 Million Views by next election and almost 7.5 million in the 25-54 demo while at the progressive rate of decline Billo the clown would have 50 viewers and 5 viewers in the 25-54 demo …. guess 6 if you include Gorman.
Olbermann tends to frame the ratings in a light that prove most favorable to him. In the real world, its called lying. In television or politics, its called framing. When both combine, its called selective use of facts. Both spend their entire show doing that, but we catch the number lies because, well, we follow numbers here
I’ve seen Olbermann do this. Basically, He knocks out the age group he once defined and derided as “65 to dead” and then breaks down into the demo’s (Nielson breaks it down much more than the 2 simple ranges we put up). He breaks them down, shrinks them down and makes the range younger and younger until he is ‘beating’ Bill.
I would like to add that I believe Olbermann has had to do less digging into the ranges to get a ‘win’ but in terms of overall numbers, he loses. Consistently.
And before people start screaming that i’m a hyper conservative defending O’Reilly, nothing could be further from the truth. I actually skew liberal. But I’m fact-based. Those are the facts.
Chris, I don’t watch either FNC or MSNBC, so I have no idea what either says on air about their ratings. The age data can be sliced in just about any fashion and I have no doubt that there are many demo slices under 50 where KO probably leads.
The only thing that’s really important to either network is advertising revenue. The major ad sales demographic for cable news is the 25-54 demo and I’d be very surprised if O’Reilly Factor didn’t bring in more revenue than Countdown. But it’s also fair to guess that the gap in ad revenue between the two shows is *much* narrower than the gap in total viewers.
Drew: That is a lie. Olbermann never said he was beating O’Reilly for “some time now”… he said he has been beating him lately, which are the 2 tuesday’s that he beat oreilly in the demo.
I saw Olbermann beating up on O’Reilly last night, I also watched the rerun of when O’Reilly claimed that Nielsen skewed liberal – Hilarious stuff, I’m sure.
Look, a lot more liberals and independents are outsourcing news networks ’cause of election season. Ergo, more people are watching for news programmes that address their interests, that is why more persons are tuning into MSNBC, cause they vere liberal. After Palin, don’t know how Hannity will do without.
I’d like to see O’Reilly petition Nielsen and see what kind of stance he gets in return, like the CW, I doubt they’ll give in to his bullying.
After election season, I’ll be curious to see how both shows maintain the extra audience.
If Obama wins the presidency, I can not see how Olbermann’s show can go on since his entire show is a 60 minute campaign ad for Obama….He’ll have no one to attack. As for Ratings, MSNBC will not get major advertising deals untill Olbermann’s ratings in that demo become more consistant.
When Obama wins the presidency……
you are correct rich. if obama wins… olbermann’s show is going off the air the next day. very wise assessment on your part.
robert… olbermann… which i used to watch but watch only check out periodically now… (too much politics are out there) was very specific on which demo he beat o’reilly. and he does it only because he knows it annoys o’reilly a lot. he does it to get a rise out of him like mentioning the woman producer o’reilly tried to attack a few years ago. so he’s not sitting there pontificating about his one day win in the 18-54 year old women… or whatever… he’s poking a stick at an over inflated blowhard by being one himself. it’s kind of funny.
To even attempt to defend Fox news as “fair” in any way, shape or form is an exercise in self delusion. the only difference between FNC and the RNC is one f@cking letter. If MSNBC didn’t serve as a counter-point to Fox News then that would enable those cretins to continue to boast that all main stream media is biased. it doesn’t feel so good when a liberal becomes as enraged and indignant as the repugnant wind bags at Fox News. and another thing that stupid American Carol movie was a lame attempt at trying to prove conservatives can be funny facists. I guess they couldn’t stand the fact that people laugh at the conservatives while we watch Olbermann. all O’Reilly has is rage and name calling. not quite as entertaining
WHEN Obama wins the presidency!!! Its hard for you guys to type that word isnt it
Nobody will stop me from watching the hot babes on Fox News.
Rachel Maddow doesn’t hold a candle to Rebecca Gomez on Fox Business.
Sorry dudes! Rachel is NOT sexy.
The difference between Rachel Maddow and the ‘hot babe airheads’ on Fox is a ‘Rhodes Scholar’!
The hot babes are smart & beautiful.
Good try Fabgugarrie!!!
Check out their education before you type drunk.
I just cant wait to see the ratings for the “Obama Special” this week, since he bought out a half hour on all the networks. Should be interesting!
Why can’t you just be a smart female on TV Mr.? Why do they have to do both? CNBC’s reporters don’t dress like whores and they get huge ratings compared to their (new, digital cable) competition.
Plus, American society assumes that you have one or the other. I’m not taking away the intelligence of some of the anchors on Fox, but they should know and I’ll bet do know that they are not viewed as top rate minds in the news. For my news, I would rather see a smart, respectably dressed female like Burnett (CNBC), Bartiromo (CNBC), Maddow (MSNBC), Brown (CNN) or MacDonald (Fox Business). I trust them because I don’t think, and they don’t create the image, that they are only paid to read a teleprompter, laugh and show cleavage.
Olbermann’s show will continue, after the election, just as Sean Hannity’s show will continue. If you think MSNBC is the only network ‘in the tank’ for a candidate, you are in denial, my friend. I switch back and forth to both networks but … I mostly tune in to CNN (Anderson Cooper). CNN has the best political panel on TV. Half Liberal, Half Conservative. It’s the ONLY fair and balanced network on TV, these days.
Get your hands out of your pants Manly Man and tell me what the Fox babes qualification are?