One Year Post-Election: The Cable Ratings Drop-Off

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One Year Post-Election: The Cable Ratings Drop-Off

By Kevin Allocca on Oct 29, 2009 11:25 AM

We took a look at October ratings for Fox News, MSNBC, CNN, and HLN earlier this week. Much of cable news viewing is tied to public interest in the world events covered by the networks, and the lack of a major event like last year's presidential election has not been kind to MSNBC and CNN.

Neither HLN nor Fox News has seen near the drop-off year-to-year that the other two networks have. CNBC has also seen audiences shrink compared to last October, when so much public attention was placed on the financial crisis. Here's a chart of the percentage changes among those five networks comparing this October and last October, when the campaigns were in full swing:

Total Day (M-Su)	Total Viewers	25-54 Demo	Prime (M-F)	Total Viewers	25-54 Demo
CNN	-52%	-63%	CNN	-71%	-80%
MSNBC	-48%	-51%	MSNBC	-59%	-67%
CNBC	-49%	-45%	CNBC	-45%	-36%
Fox News	-18%	-16%	Fox News	-35%	-36%
HLN	-8%	0%	HLN	-23%	-29%

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