Unlike other cable news networks, that have seen their ratings fall since the 2008 Presidential election peak, Fox News 5-11pm viewership (P2+) has trended higher since early summer 2009 and is now near the peak levels set around the election in 2008.
I wish I could take credit for the nice chart, but this one is all thanks to the Excel wizardry of reader MikeS.
The trend lines above are 30 day moving averages.
You can see our daily cable news ratings here.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
One line going up two going down! Hmmm, I wonder what it all means?
shocked to find msnbc and cnn so close to each other. i would have assumed cnn would have significant separation ahead of msnbc. also interesting that while cnn seems to have returned to its pre-election levels, msnbc has had a ~25% increase. not quite what fox news has done, but significant. maybe this is just more evidence of the increasing political polarization of america.
MikeS,
Do you have all of the data for every cable news time slot going back to 01/01/08 in one spreadsheet?
This is proof that fox news is popular. The far left says it is a propaganda machine for the right yet its prime time line up beats all of the other cable news combined. MSNBC is nothing but a bunch of Obama cheerleaders yet more people watch paint dry than they do MSNBC.
When you think about that its pretty incredible. The network overall averages 1 more million viewers in prime time against beginning 2008. Probably several different reasons, but regardless the results are amazing. Cool chart MikeS.
I assume that if you did not add in the 5 PM Glenn Beck rating and instead started at 6 PM, Fox would show the same drop off as MSNBC and CNN. Glenn Beck has been given hundreds of millions of dollars worth of free publicity by the mass media in the past several months (cover of Time Magazine, interview with Katie Couric for example, thousands of articles on him calling the President a racist). Running against a rerun on MSNBC and the Situation Room on CNN, one would expect that his show would bring in big ratings for a few months. It will be interesting to see if it lasts and if MSNBC decides to counterprogram.
I hope you will run this chart in two month. FOX NEWS has had huge drops in audience of around 20% almost every day in September. I have a feeling the chart will not look as rosy a month from now.
Everyone really needs to stop trying to insert politics into these polls. Viewers by in large watch FOX MSNBC and CNN for news first. Only a small percentage watch them for partisan reasons.
FOX is winning the ratings war because their news stories are relevant and on point with current events.
MSNBC and CNN need to catch up and stop reporting as if it was 2008.
This is what happens when one channel covers the news, while it competitors cover-up the news.
Fox News has definitely benefited from the increased interest in Glenn Beck in the last few months, which I think in turn has boosted the rest of the line-up. CNN and MSNBC’s personalities just don’t have enough…well, personality to compete with the news that the Fox News personalities manage to create about themselves, and the way that they pander to a specific, minority but still large audience. It’s horribly unprofessional, pandering, unnewsmanlike and disgusting, but hey, what sells sells, and Fox News is selling it in spades.
past several months (cover of Time Magazine (he didn’t even interview with TIME), interview with Katie Couric for example) happened within the last 2 weeks. 5pm is important now since he gets 2.8 to 3.5 million
maybe because the news of Fox is presented in a better manner…example happy people verse grumpy people…plus they’ve hotter people delievering the news too…granted not the reason i watch…but the sets are better…better music…better presentation.
As with all TV programming, the “better” programming does not necessarily mean the better ratings. All this means is that FOX has found its audience.
I’ll tell you why Overbite has bad ratings; he has people on the show that can’t even speak propoer English to defend his warped, leftist agenda. He’s the biggest piece of garbage I’ve seen on television in a loooooong time!!
That’s not really the reason, Josh. I find FoxNews drab and dreary, myself. Set-wise, MSNBC whips them both.
Fox’s average viewer age is significantly higher than the other networks. It’s audience is, in its essence, angry old people. And right now, they’re really angry.
I love FNC and I thank them daily for providing a ‘balanced’ reporting of the news. How can MSNBC stay with on-air idiots like Mathews and Olberwoman. They are so one-sided in their reporting. As I have said before ‘Liberalism’ is definitely a mental disorder!! I can tke a little of CNN such as Lou Dobbs but Wolf B. is a complete joke.
Thanks again Fox–we love you. The days of the alphabet networks and CNN dominating our political beliefs are over. Grab some bench!!!
To both CK and Doug(2).
This isn’t about who has better programming or who has a better looking set. Its about NEWS.
All 3 networks bill themselves as “Cable News”
Whoever has the more current and relevant news stories will gain a large audience.
The news that both CNN and MSNBC choose to air, are not bringing in any new viewers.
It is that simple.
TexMex
im not old so there…lol
TEXMEX your right it’s like the Old Leftist media can’t report the latest stories anymore. The game has changed and they don’t know what to do. Like a fish flopping around out of the water. Poor little leftist don’t control the agenda anymore WE DO. What will you do? Nobody want’s to buy your Old Tired Garbage anymore. OH…did you hear Time Warner and GE are selling some of their junk. Time Mag People and NBC Universal. Looks like Rupert could add to his growing media empire. He could show them how to turn a profit. MARXIST=DEMOCRATS=TERRORIST All the same ask The Safe Schools Czar Kevin Pervert Jennings. He likes little boys.
dream on philosopher, typical lib, ” take off glen beck and the ratings would be the same as msnbc and cnn” you are delusional!! since the election FOX NEWS has been beating the hell out of msnbc and cnn both obama networks and most of the time ratings have been higher then the two combined, the shows during the day are way higher also, PEOPLE ARE SICK OF NOTHING BUT GLOWING, ADORING, IDOLIZING COMMENTATORS AT mspms, cnn!!!!!!! they will never learn that if they would also report FACTS how obama is trying to turn this country into a socialist empire , he is nothing like he was on the campaign trail, and as far as FOX NEWS being nothing but right wing nuts, more independents watch FOX NEWS then REPUBLICANS or democrats, face it people they all love obama to much to change and if they keep that up their ratings will stay at the bottom, and dont you remember obama bought nbc, they owe him.
Lets just face the facts: Fox News tells the TRUTH. The left liberals were all helping Obama get elected. Hell Chris Mattews told everyone how he had wood just thinking about Obama. They elected him and now they have helped run the country into the ground. They no longer qualify as journalist.
I think it just represents the far right and right wings need to hear their views more often — and FOX is preaching to the choir. It isn’t surprising it has so many viewers. I know if I felt so out of step with the majority I’d seek comfort in watching FOX.