Long Term Trend of O'Reilly vs. Olbermann TV Ratings:
Some folks commented that they thought the previous linear regressions weren't the right way to look at the long term trend, and I agree. We have data since late November, 2007 and using that as a "start" point for a linear trend was somewhat arbitrary. The trend lines above are 20 day (4 week) moving averages. I'm not sure I'll stick with that period, it might be too short, but that's what I'm going with this week.
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.
Charts of Key demo would be more relevant and appreciated ……. dont wanna see the million plus geezers added to BOR’s rating which have no impact on ad revenues making these charts somewhat meaningless.
That said must say this is an awesome site though quite a few Rethugs visit here. Didnt know they knew how to use the pipes connecting the internet (as described by the Rethug’s fav son Ted Stevens).
Don’t the triangles represent the key demos?
Also what happened on Wednesday? Olberman gets better ratings than Obama and almost catches up to Billo? So did people who watched Obama on other channels switch to Olbermann for the recap? I think its also interesting to note that the OReilly sycophants won’t change the channel for ANYTHING! I’d call these the Republican dead-enders but I’d sound too much like Rumsfeld.
yes, the triangles represent the key (for cable news) 25-54 demo.
Pat –
O’Reilly definitely has a skew in terms of older viewers, but he usually beats (albeit, narrowly) Olbermann in the 25-54 cable demo. And given that Fox re-upped him with a huge salary, I’d say Fox is pleased with his performance.
Over the next four years, expect Fox to move to the left. Obama led the boycott of Fox during the Democrat primaries and there is demonstrable evidence that it hurt Fox’s ratings during the primary season. Fox simply wasn’t able to provide the same quality of coverage to the Democratic primaries because the only Democrats they could attract to their network were washed up “strategists” from the Carter or Mondale era.
The Obama campaign hasn’t been shy about the use of boycotts to punish the small minority of news organizations that don’t fawn over him. Fox knows this, and with Democrats in power, it’s going to need access to Democrats in order to meaningfully cover the news. Their ratings will dwindle if their evening broadcast is just Karl Rove, Dick Morris, and a few random Republican senators and congressmen whining about what law Obama just passed or what industry Obama just nationalized.
Outlander, actually Edwards led the boycott. Obama only agreed after Edwards and Hillary boycotted I believe.
Whomever did it, Obama is now smacking Fox around regularly. It’s a beautiful thing.
Shaun, perhaps so, but the truth is that Fox is the only major news organization in the country that’s been even remotely critical of Obama. It bothers me that several media insiders have all but admitted that the media has not vetted Obama, doesn’t want to, and doesn’t see anything wrong with that.
Vetted? Like Sarah Palin was vetted?
Obermann and MSNBC is a joke. The left controls that channel completely. If you want political balance you can go to fox and sometimes CNN. If fox were to move left then that will leave half the country with no where to go for balanced coverage. They will not do that.
MSNBC will be washed up after the political season is complete and you will see the FOX dominance widen. MSNBC will not have anyone to bash when the dems mess things up worse than the repubs have done this past 8 years.
I take that back, without question Obermann is the biggest coward ever seen in cable news/commentary history. Unbelievable…
Hillary never boycotted Fox News. She has even stated that she believes Fox News is the only “fair and Balanced” news channel on TV.
Seidman, have I been boycotted?
Fabfu, I don’t know why your posts were being grabbed by the spam filter. I have freed them, and we’ll see if it continues.
I like the new graph and trend lines– definitely on the right track
Man, I thought Goebels, Goebells, Goebbells had me there for a minute!
Fabfu, more like Linux, Linux, Linux.
Can’t wait until President Obama puts the screws on Fox Noise.
Oh what a sweet day it will be if he pulls their plug.
Fox = KKK
Guys,
If you want to talk about fairness you should look at the Pew Research study on media fairness in this campaign. Fox had 40% negative coverage of Obama AND McCain. And actually had more positive coverage of Obama than McCain.
They are just fair, and CNN is fair much of the time too. I dont know why it twists your panties so much when a network covers something with fairness…
here is the study:
http://journalism.org/node/13436
O’Reilly is going down. Hi viewers are aging.
shawn,
I think i see your point. O Reilly viewers are aging, that is part of their humaness. Following your logic, if Obermann viewers are not aging, what does that make them (mindless comes to mind)?
The only way Olbermann will stay on this trend is if Obama actually loses, which he wont. People watch Olbermann because he bashes repubs and bush. You don’t watch for the “news” of the day. Olbermann will eventually turn into the lefts sean hannity…a propaganda arm for his party. The only reason fox does so well, is that its the only repub friendly channel. There will be countless sources to get the type of “news” you’ll get from Olbermann come next year. Olbermann’s famously fake anger will not have enough repubs to focus on, so his shtick will really fall by the wayside. Seriously..people, admit you don’t watch olbermann because he gushes over Obama(which he does so well). You watch because he attacks repubs and bill o’reilly like no one else. It really is as simple as that.
Matt, excellent analysis. Olbermann would okay if he had on guests who actually disagreed with him, that would make his show somewhat entertaining. While O’Reilly talks over most of his guests, he at least puts them on his show. He get’s points for that. After Obama is elected to go along with Pelosi and Reid, people will get real tired of Olbermann acting like every Republican is picking on Obama.
If Obama goes far left with Pelosi, it will be a blood bath for House Democrats in 2010 like it has been for Republicans since 2006.