Ordinarily, I'd wait until the end of the year to post a year to year ratings comparison, but if Bill Carter at the New York Times can do a comparison already, so can I.
Read the other Bill if you'd like prose, but here are all the charts with the numbers, many that weren't in the Carter piece. (although I am not 100% certain that his end date for the 2009 year to date numbers was the same as mine, it shouldn't make much difference).
Some numbers highlights:
- CNN will finish 3rd in the adults 25-54 demographic in primetime behind Fox News and MSNBC for the first time. They got absolutely crushed in primetime year over year, declining 43% in the 25-54 demo and 31% in average viewers.
- Fox News was up across the board year over year, by 8-19% in the different categories pictured in the charts. Their adults 25-54 demographic (targeted by cable news advertisers) is bigger than CNN and MSNBC's put together. Also, their average viewerships in both Total Day and Primetime are at all time highs.
- MSNBC is also well down from its 2008 levels (11-26% in the different categories), but held up better vs. last year than did CNN.
- Headline News was also up across the board by 9-17%. They went from 44% of CNN's primetime demo rating to 85%.
- While CNBC was well down in Total Day numbers (14-17%) presumably post financial crises in the Fall o 2008, their primetime numbers (which have little to do with breaking financial news) were more stable (+1%, -6%)
Time periods:
2008 : 12/31/2007 - 12/28/2008
2009YTD : 12/29/2008 - 12/15/2009
