Is "Fusion" a Stretch or the New Metric?

DailyFinance's Jeff Bercovici takes an alternative look at the second quarter cable news ratings race which ends tomorrow. The idea? There's more than one screen on which to consume a network's news.

"We used to be a television business," Jack Wakshlag, head of research for Turner Broadcasting tells Bercovici, whose site is run by AOL, about to be spun off from CNN's parent, Time Warner. "We see our future in terms of being a multi-platform media company."

As it happens, Nielsen, the ratings firm, recently started tracking such a metric. It's called Nielsen Fusion, and it combines viewership and online usage data. The Fusion rankings for April show CNN with a commanding lead over both MSNBC and Fox News when it comes to reach among all viewers. (That's looking at the full day, not just primetime.) CNN reached 125.3 million people in April, versus 105.5 milllion for MSNBC and 104.3 million for Fox.

That's not really a surprise. CNN has always beaten Fox and MSNBC in reach, or cumulative audience. (Fox and MSNBC counter that advertisers make their buys based on ratings, not cumulative reach, which doesn't reflect duration of viewership.)

And FNC's response, "Apparently the sheer embarrassment of getting beat by both Headline News and MSNBC along with the continued implosion of Campbell Brown and Anderson Cooper has led CNN to its latest act of desperation," a Fox News spokesman tells Bercovici. "We wish Jack well in continuing to defend their battle for fourth place."


new on mediabistro.com

The Future of Social Media with Chris Anderson

The editor of Wired explains how to create a social network that works.
Watch the video

Email This Post

Fill out the following information and click on the Send button in order to send this post, Is "Fusion" a Stretch or the New Metric?, to a friend.
Friend's name
Friend's email address
Your name
Your email address
Note to your friend (optional, max 200 Characters)

Read more on TVNewser >

And Now the News...About TV News
TVNewser in Your Inbox
Mobile Version
RSS Feed
Our Blog Network

BayNewser

WebNewser

PRNewser

TVNewser

MediaJobsDaily

AgencySpy

GalleyCat

FishbowlNY

FishbowlDC

FishbowlLA

UnBeige

MobileContentToday

TVNewser Staff
Managing Editor:
Chris Ariens

Editor:
Kevin Allocca

Contributors:
Gail Shister
Alissa Krinsky


Email

Twitter

About
Anonymous Tips

  TVNewser twitter feed loading...

View twitter directly

Follow TVNewser on Twitter



Internsmall9-17.jpgIntern at TVNewser

Archives

November 2009

October 2009

September 2009

August 2009

more...


Links

Broadcasting & Cable

BuzzMachine

FTVLive

Inside Cable News

The Live Feed

Media Decoder

NewsBlues

NewscastStudio

Newslab

Romenesko

TV Barn

TV by the Numbers

TVNewsCheck

TVSpy Watercooler

TVWeek

Variety

Z on TV

Topics

ABC

Al Jazeera

BBC

Bloomberg

CBS

CNBC

CNN

FNC

Fox Biz

HDNet

HLN

MSNBC

NBC

truTV


Awards & Accolades

Cable News Wars

Couric Watch

Exclusives That Aren't

Events

Funny

Generalities

Evening News Ratings

Morning Cable Ratings

Morning Media Menu

Morning Show Ratings

Morning Show Wars

Network Newsing

Now & Then

Ratings

Revolving Door

Site Announcements

State of the News Media

Studies & Research

Sunday Shows

The Ticker

Top Stories

WebNewser

Year in Review


09/11/06

2008 Conventions

A Year Of Katrina

Bird Flu

Court Cases

Hurricane

Iraq

NAB-RTNDA

Obits

Olympics

Politics

The Pope

Questions

Supreme Court

Job Listings

Featured Listings

Executive Assistant to the President & CEO
WNYC Radio
New York, NY

Assistant to the CEO
Fast Growing Firm
New York, NY

HR Generalist
WNYC Radio
New York, NY

Account Executive - Denver
The Bump
Denver, CO

ADVERTISEMENT


mediabistro.com l Member Benefits l Jobs l Freelance Marketplace l Courses l Events l Forums l Content
mediabistro Blogs: Media News l TVNewser l GalleyCat l UnBeige l FishbowlNY l FishbowlLA l FishbowlDC l PRNewser l AgencySpy
MobileContentToday l WebNewser l BayNewser l MediaJobsDaily l mbToolbox
Site Map l Advertising/Sponsorships l Partners l About Us l Contact Us/Help

internet.commediabistro.comJusttechjobs.comGraphics.com

Search:

WebMediaBrands Corporate Info

Legal Notices, Licensing, Reprints, Permissions, Privacy Policy.
Advertise | Newsletters | Shopping | E-mail Offers