TVNewser TVNewser Jobs
 
Receive mediabistro.com's Daily TVNewser Feed via email
Freshbooks


Daily Media Newsfeed Click here to receive mediabistro.com's Daily Media Newsfeed via email.

Wednesday, May 10

Cable News Can't Keep Young Viewers; FNC #1, But 25-54 Is A Challenge

Last week, I said "young viewers just don't watch The O'Reilly Factor like they used to." It turns out the same thing can be said for all of Fox News Channel.

April marked FNC's lowest-rated month in the 25-54 demographic since August 2001, according to Nielsen data.

Caveat: 2006 hasn't been as "newsy" a year as 2005, so far. But the trend of demo decreases isn't just a year-over-year story.

In total day, FNC averaged 208,000 demo viewers in April, down from 212,000 in March and 236,000 in February. April's viewership was at its lowest level since 9/11.

In total day, FNC averaged 402,000 demo viewers in 2003, 323,000 in 2004, 300,000 in 2005, and just 221,000 so far in 2006. (Year-to-date, FNC is down 26 percent from 2005, while CNN is down 21 percent.)

chartmay101.jpgIn primetime, FNC averaged 317,000 demo viewers in April, down from 321,000 in March and 344,000 in February. January (319,000) was the network's second-lowest month since 9/11. (Click on the graph to see it full-size.)

After Sept. 11, 2001, many new viewers discovered cable news, and ratings rose across the board. Among total viewers, FNC is holding steady: The network had 1,484,000 viewers in primetime in Sept. 2001, and 1,440,000 in primetime in April 2006. But among the highly desirable viewers in the 25-54 demo, FNC is slipping. The net averaged 623,000 demo viewers in prime in Sept. 2001, but was down to just 317,000 in April 2006.

FNC averaged 609,000 demo viewers in 2003, 530,000 in 2004, 462,000 in 2005, and just 319,000 so far in 2006. But this isn't meant to be a history lesson. FNC is recording its lowest ratings in almost five years in all the demos. April's 236,000 in the 18-49 demo was the worst since 9/11. And April's 58,000 was the second-worst in the 18-34 demo. (The worst came in March with 57,000.)

FNC isn't alone in its demo woes. April was CNN's lowest month for primetime demo viewers since December 2002. But by virtue of being #1, FNC has the most to lose.

Email This Post

Fill out the following information and click on the Send button in order to send this post, Cable News Can't Keep Young Viewers; FNC #1, But 25-54 Is A Challenge, 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 >

Interested in advertising on TVNewser?

Our Blog Network

FishbowlNY

FishbowlDC

FishbowlLA

UnBeige

MobileContentToday

MobileMarketingToday

MobileDevicesToday

MobileAppsToday

AgencySpy

GalleyCat

PRNewser

TVNewser

TVNewser Staff

Editor:
Chris Ariens

Associate Editor:
Steve Krakauer

Contributors:
Gail Shister
Alissa Krinsky
Diane Clehane



Email

Twitter

About

Syndication

Anonymous Tips


  TVNewser twitter feed loading...

View twitter directly

Follow TVNewser via Twitter

TVNewser Photos


This is a Flickr badge showing public items from Mediabistro tagged with conventions. Make your own badge here.
All photos

Archives

October 2008

September 2008

August 2008

July 2008

more...


Links

mb News Feed

Romenesko

Lost Remote

NewsBlues

FTVLive

Newslab

TVSpy Watercooler

TV Barn

Broadcasting & Cable

BCBeat

TV Week

Variety

BuzzMachine

PressThink

Eat the Press

Inside Cable News

The Modern Journalist

TVNewsday

Categories

09/11/06

2008 Conventions

A Year Of Katrina

ABC

About

About Us - Modules

Al Jazeera Intl

Awards & Accolades

BBC

Bird Flu

Bloomberg

CBS

CNBC

CNN

Couric Watch

Court Cases

CourtTV/truTV

Crystal Ball

Evening News Ratings

Exclusives That Aren't

FNC

Foreign Correspondence

Fox Biz

Fox News Radio

Funny

Generalities

HDNet

Hurricane '07

Hurricane '08

Iraq

Morning Cable Ratings

Morning Show Ratings

MSNBC

NAB-RTNDA 2005

NAB-RTNDA 2006

NAB-RTNDA 2008

NBC

Network Newsing

Now & Then

Obits

Olympics

Politics

Questions

Ratings

Site Announcements

State of the News Media 2005

State of the News Media 2006

State of the News Media 2007

State of the News Media 2008

Studies, Surveys & Research

Supreme Court

The Morning Show Wars

The Olympics

The Pope

The Revolving Door

The Ticker

Top Stories

Twitterview

Year in Review 2005

Year in Review 2006


Subscribe

Click here to receive the Daily Media News Feed by email.

Job Listings

Featured Listings

Vice President New Business Development
NYC Television Production Company
New York, NY

Sr. Production Designer
CNN New York
New York, NY

Production Assistant, RADIO LAB
WNYC Radio
New York, NY

Assistant Editor, RADIO LAB
WNYC Radio
New York, NY


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 mbToolbox l PRNewser l AgencySpy l MobileAppsToday l MobileContentToday l MobileMarketingToday l MobileDevicesToday
Site Map l Advertising/Sponsorships l Partners l About Us l Contact Us/Help

JupiterOnlineMedia

internet.comearthweb.comDevx.commediabistro.comGraphics.com

Search:

Jupitermedia Corporation has two divisions: Jupiterimages and JupiterOnlineMedia

Jupitermedia Corporate Info


Legal Notices, Licensing, Reprints, & Permissions, Privacy Policy.

Web Hosting | Newsletters | Tech Jobs | Shopping | E-mail Offers