After finishing fourth among the four cable news networks for October, in the LA Times CNN chief Jon Klein says he's in a completely different business than Fox News and MSNBC and shouldn't be compared to them:
"No one expected us to deliver the same numbers this year as we did during the election," Klein said this week.
Still, after crowing about its ratings victories last year, CNN is now in the Awkward position of trying to explain why its declining audience is not an issue.
"We are not going to try to boost numbers during fallow news periods by running cartoons, as our competitors do," Klein said. "We're going to cover the news and we'll attract an ever more loyal audience as the result of it."
"They are in a completely different business than we are," he added. "We are not putting out the same product as they are. And we shouldn't be compared to them on that account."
Rival executives scoff at that assertion. Newscasts dominate the daytime lineup of MSNBC and Fox News, whose Bret Baier and Shepard Smith anchor news programs that ranked among the top five most-watched cable shows in October.
"Jon's correct: It's unfair to compare CNN to Fox News," said Fox News spokeswoman Dana Klinghoffer. "Based on his network's dismal ratings, it's more accurate to compare CNN to the G4 channel."
So, if CNN's not to be compared to the cable news networks that are beating it in the ratings, who are its current ratings peers?
During Primetime in October (Live+SD):
Average Viewership (000s)
| MSNBC | 699 |
| VH1 | 682 |
| CNN | 664 |
| MTV | 664 |
| E! | 618 |
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Adults 25-54 (000s)
| Nat. Geo. | 193 |
| Soap Opera | 193 |
| CNN | 186 |
| CMT | 186 |
| Oxygen | 186 |
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During Total Day in October (Live+SD):
Average Viewership (000s)
| Travel | 514 |
| TLC | 504 |
| CNN | 481 |
| AMC | 480 |
| BET | 416 |
Adults 25-54 (000s)
| Animal Planet | 147 |
| Headline | 144 |
| CNN | 141 |
| MSNBC | 131 |
| CMT | 123 |
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While it continues to not be clear who Jon Klein wants to be compared to, the networks above were CNN's ratings peers in October.
Why does CNN have to be compared with anyone?
They’re getting beat by MSNBC and Animal Planet, that’s funny.
What’s the point of ratings if you don’t have anything to compare it to – if everything got 100 million viewers, then 100 million viewers isn’t very good… if you don’t know what’s comparable for ratings, whether it’s cable news or primetime, no one would know what people prefer to watch. If you don’t want people to care about what people prefer to watch, then that’s another thing
Still something like CNN is shown and respected throughout most of the world where as something like say foxnews is only seen by backwards americans
No body likes fox news. everyone watches to see what new trash comes out of there mouths
CNN is comparable to a blend of several channels named above with a MSNBC-lite overdub throughout. In the morning CNN is like a BET newsroom, in primetime it has its own Soap Opera drama queen (Anderson Cooper). Jeanne Moos’s bits are CNN meets E! Christianne Amanpour brings the worst in Mideast Travel (you wouldn’t want to go there after her specials). What CNN needs badly at this juncture is a good intake of *Oxygen*.
“We are not going to try to boost numbers during fallow news periods by running cartoons, as our competitors do,” Klein said.
So CNN puts themselfs up against the Cartoon Network?
Any numbers for the cartoon network? Do they beat CNN?
No body likes fox news? LMAO
Bill or Robert: Does Nielsen release the key 18-49 demo for the news networks? It’s interesting to see the 25-54s and 35-64s, but it seems that while 18-49 is the favored demo for non-kids channels, I never see it with news ratings.
Wow, they’re just tied with MTV. That’s kind of funny.
Bottom line…FoxNews is the number 1 cable news network in the U.S. CNN is number 4. Ratings are rating. As far as international new sources…in Europe…the BBC is typically the most respected news source. In the Middle East and other Arabic regions, Al Jazeera is the most respected news source.
Americans think that they are the center of the world and what they like is what the world likes. Not true…most people could care less about our news programming and other sources of entertainment. China, India, Russia, and the EU all have their own viewpoints and are attracted to similar tastes. Just like the American public. And right now, the American public has a strong taste for the programming on FoxNews.
As for the ratings, FoxNews has programs that appeal to more people than CNN or MSNBC. The majority of Americans picture themselves as moderate conservatives. (Mostly is the fiscal conservative group).
CNN competes directly with Foxnews and MSNBC. When their ratings were higher…they pointed that out clearly in prior statements. I love how companies and politicians try to erase prior statements when it no longer suites them.
As far as global reach…CNN, FoxNews, and MSNBC are just one news outlet out of a pool of hundreds across the globe. People watch what they want to watch and who they trust as a reliable news source.
However, most people still prefer their local news outlets over the big network news companies anyways.
It’s currently more like Fox News and MSNBC. If CNN was a newschannel, it would be comparable the BBC World News, France 24, and CNN International.
i think the whole problem in a nutshell is, right now CNN can’t decide exactly what it is or what it wants to be…
Craig, your post was quite entertaining – I love when people think things in their head, and assume they’re facts.
Remember, ratings doesn’t mean quality.
I check out the news on the web. CNN.com and BBC.co.uk are my two main sites (and I’m Canadian).
I wonder how CNN does in comparison to FoxNews for people who use the web to access news.
Dear CNN:
Thanks for acting like you’re peerless and without bias, while combining the liberal slant of MSNBC with the excitement of watching paint dry. This sort of honest self-assessment can only help the quality of your programming.
Verily,
A News Corp. shareholder
@Craig
Very well put
@anom
What did Craig say that wasn’t fact? Its a FACT that most Americans are conservative.
@just
Stop making lame excuse to explain Fox’s ratings away. Quality is an opinion.
I agree Copasetic. Fox clearly is tabloid journalism. The paranoid right has gone so far off the deep end that when anyone DARES offer warranted critism they shriek evil biased liberals. Rather than answering questions they shoot the messenger much like children when they don’t ge their way. No matter how many flags they put on their screen, Fox starts out with a bias. Fox finally admitted it:
http://akwag.blogspot.com/2009/10/finally-fox-news-admits-it-isnt-really.html
It makes for great Must Shriek TV. Brilliant TV model. My hats off to Murdoch.
MSNBC, laughably, wants to have a foot in both doors. Hard news and commentary. They really cancel one another out.
I would if presssed compare CNN to hard news of yesterday like Murrow and Cronkite.
I flipped through all three channels often. The other day? CNN was covering Health Care, MSNBC was discussing the Stock Market, and FOX actually had a story on UFO’s and no it wasn’t the balloon boy.
With hyperbolic stories like Death panels, The President not being American, “freedoms being taken away,” you know the talking points, I’d say it took cajones for CNN to let it be known that they don’t want to be compared to the ratings juggernaut that is FOX news.
Mr. Klein needs to be a bit more careful about how he phrases his protests. The Cartoon Network comparison (as one poster above offered) is an accidental inspiration that I’m sure Mr. Klein wasn’t trying to equate to CNN. His goof. Better luck next time.
As for comparisons… well, he, Fox, MSNBC, and others are in the business of information delivery regarding current events. That’s the baseline, I think, for comparison. Whether that delivery is with a news reader and taped stories, presented in the form of show tunes, delivered by nude people (I seem to recall a few television stations somewhere did that — might even still be doing that for all I know), or read by an auctioneer, it doesn’t really matter.
I will admit to some amusement that CMT, Soap Opera, and Animal Planet are either tied or above CNN in ratings. I will also admit that I would be equally amused if Fox or MSNBC were in the same predicament.
I think what CNN is trying to say is that they think of themselves as the New York Times and as FoxNews/MSNBC as the National Inquirer. Who cares if the NI has a higher readership they’re playing a different game. There are things that the other networks do during slow news periods that CNN could do to increase their ratings but CNN chooses not too because it believes that during periods of high interest news it will once again be the predominant source of cable news for most Americans. They believe sinking to low brow commentary will hurt their buisness during high interest news periods despite the short term gains. Of course that doesn’t explain Lou Dobbs, but he’s still a far cry from Glenn Beck.