Confessing Error: Some People Do Prefer Defeat to Victory
Nine years ago, when FoxNews sprinted past CNN to become America's number one news network, I attributed its ratings gains to the election of George Bush and the triumph of Fox-watching conservatives. I figured conservatives would be savoring their victory while liberals were averting their eyes in disgust. For the next eight years, I measured political sentiment in the United States by comparing the size of the FoxNews audience with the combined size of the CNN/MSNBC audience. In this space, I even predicted, with reasonable accuracy, the percent by which Barack Obama won the election based on the split in the news audience.
Now, seven months after Barack Obama's victory, CNN's ratings have gone down the drain. From May of last year to May of this year, CNN lost 22% of its total primetime audience. MSNBC was down 2%, while FoxNews was up 24%. In the key advertising demographic (25-54), Fox was up 31%, CNN was down 37% and MSNBC was down 26%. In hard numbers, Fox had 109,000 more viewers than last year while CNN lost 113,000. CNN averaged fewer than 200,000 25-54 viewers in primetime. Even MSNBC averaged more viewers than that.
Total day was nearly as bad, with Fox up 24% and CNN down 7%. MSNBC was down 2% in total viewing. Fox is beating CNN almost two-to-one in most categories.
There's no need to throw any more numbers at you--Fox is gaining, CNN is wilting. Why is this happening when the country still seems about 58-42 in favor of Obama? My best guess is the passion of those who detest Democrats, liberals, and in particular, Barack Obama.
Conservatives seem so angry at their loss, so ready to blame Obama for all their problems that almost 400,000 more of them are watching FoxNews this year than they did last year. I think they turn to Fox for comfort and confirmation. They need to hear the ranters and ravers tell them that it's not their fault, it's all because of those "Socialist Democrats." I have believed for years that it's "comfort and confirmation" that drove conservatives to talk radio. Now it's television, too.
I had thought better of the television audience, particularly younger viewers who tended to watch CNN and MSNBC. But even that's gone now--Fox leads in 18-49 year-olds.
Here are the best excuses I can think of: maybe a lot of middle-of-the-roaders have just tuned out on all the cable news noise. Maybe other people have better things to do with their lives than listen to pandering pundits. Maybe more generous souls accept that Obama's doing the best he can in a very tough job, and they don't want to hear the details because they know the stars are not shining on America right now.
But, then again, maybe all of the above are wrong. Maybe it's simply the need for an enemy, the desire to detest is greater than the power to tolerate; maybe it's the need to blame somebody else for the bad things that are happening in our lives that drives viewers to Fox. Perhaps those viewers are the next generation of the rich socialites in the old New Yorker cartoon, who dressed up to go to the newsreel theatre and hiss FDR. Only now they can do it at home, watching FoxNews. Maybe the joy of defeat is underestimated.
Loading comments…
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
Conservatives are unemployed, sitting home on the couch, watching TV, downing a brew, wishing W. was there to share a few rounds with them.
Liberals are on the internet, as neither CNN nor MSNBC (with the excepion of Maddow and Olbermann) are serving their needs.
CNN and MSNBC are actually trying to compete with Fox by trying to be Fox. Bad move. They won't be accepted as legit by Fox viewers (it's like putting Michael Steele in as chair of the RNC, expecting Black people to flock to them).
CNN and MSNBC are competing with the internet. They need to find serious shows and journalists who are as credible as Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Bill Maher. Just without the laugh track.
I DO NOT WATCH any major media outlet on cable TV, they all have the same Bushlitt. They echo the talking points of their wealthy bosses... for the most part
In fact, I can go online and find snippets of the yesterday and today's talking heads and hear them bloviating about this and that. And further, I can make up my own opinions about current events, I don't need somebody to tell me how or what to think. Finally, the real news appears to be reported on by comedians willing to delve deep and ask the tough questions. There are no difficult questions posed in today's mainstream Cable TV journalism... it shouldn't even be called journalism, more like entertainment.
pro wrestling also has great cable ratings compared to pro-boxing- more proof that a segment of our population prefers BS to the real thing, as long as everyone on the screen is yelling and the women look hot
A better comparison would be FIX news versus all other networks combined. FIX is clearly the lone, misinformation, far right, extremist network pitted against all the other more tolerant, though biased in their own way, news networks.
As such, the far right, neo-con, conservative extremists look soley at FIX. The others who are watching spread out across numerous networks. The remainder refuse to be caught up in the drivel all of them tend to present particularly through their guest pundits.
maybe its because CNN, MSNBC et al are becoming more like FAUX lite and giving time to the likes of Liz Cheney and the gang and others with NO credentials and NOTHING to add to supposedly "balance" a story when balnce is not needed
'
Objectivity is all that is required when reporting a story and NEWS is what is needed
IF we had some hard hitting journalism with some hard facts viewership would go up instead of the infotainment we have now unlike the Morning Joe Coffee commercial hour promoting products and particular viewpoints
Let's have news and exposes PLEASE!
Let the war crimes trials begin!
There aren't any more Walter Cronkites or Dan Rathers or Timmy Russerts. There aren't any unbiased, genuine news anchors left who do their own investigating and can't be bought or coerced into saying things for the sake of ratings. The news in America has been taken over by people who want money and care nothing for the institution of honest news reporting. The Free Press in America has been corrupted and we're the poorer for it.
I would venture the observation that they are decidedly lacking in the ability digest other than bite sized bits of information. FOX readily supplies them with pre-masticated talking points, requiring little, or no need to think.
On the other side of the ledger, the point has been brought up about the use of TiVO and other recording platforms which don't show up in these surveys, and as Mr Schonfeld has noted, progressives have access to, and use, multiple sources for their informational input. The least educated amongst us have only FOX, to serve their radical, neo-con, right-wing, Evangelical, NRA bias.
Reese, do you have the numbers for how many households have access to the individual networks? Is Comcast the only cable provider that doesn't carry MSNBC? Or maybe Comcast carries it on its digital signal while carrying the CNN and FOX on their analog signal. Are their other areas with an MSNBC blackout?
See Reese Schonfeld's Profile
Some Comcast cable systems carry MSNBC on a digital tier, for which you have to pay extra of course. I believe that others carry it on basic.
I take back one is.
So faux has 500,000 viewers, and CNN has 200,000 viewers. What I want to know is what is the other 99.95% of the population is doing.
See Reese Schonfeld's Profile
Those numbers are for viewers between 25-54. Fox averages almost 2 million viewers per hour in primetime, CNN 768,000, MSNBC 762,000 and Headline 536,000. The exact total number is 4,032,000 viewers, and that's nothing to be sneezed at. The rest of the population probably has better things to do then spend primetime watching news.
they are watching The Daily Show
DirectTV and Dish Tv Satellite does not carry MSNBC on its lower "tier Bundles". Comcast cable does not carry MSNBC. As for Charter Cable, which filed a Chapter 11, they don't have a clue if you ask for "tier" price plans so I don't know about Charter. A true comparison would be , not the number of viewers in primetime, but the number of households that can view Fix versus MSNBC. Until then I would suggest doing sample populations from total populations available to each cable network to find out a true proportion of viewers.
Your total viewer numbers do bear out the musings of an earlier commenter. If two million watch Fox and the total is 32,000 over four million, that means that all the right wingers are getting their dose of poison from the only place they can and the other two million plus 32,000 are spread out over the other cable news programs.
I would add Reese, that I stayed in Atlanta this past weekend, and MSNBC was not carried on ComCast. Which is terrible given that Atlanta is the largest population center in the South. ComCast's bias is obvious.
And further, in the south, it is the default news station in all public places. Whataburger, fast food joints, the Post Office, anywhere with a TV. Of course the same can be said of CNN in certain places as well. The bottom line though is that these companies are soft and ask soft questions, they are unwilling to openly debate and stick with talking points and script.
It is the difference between lovers and haters. For haters, there's only one channel to watch, FOX. For lovers, there are so many other choices. Obviously, we have a hard core number of haters, 23% of Americans. If you could lock up 23% of the population with one channel, obviously your numbers are going to look good. But in life, its not QUANTITY, as the haters believe, its QUALITY, a concept that FOX viewers don't understand.
To those of you who have hate in your heart and no Joy, I would recommend a truly wonderful book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It's not a book on motorcycle mechanics, but it is a book on soul mechanics. It doesn't matter now much money you can put in to your pockets if your heart is empty.
Great article Reese!
how about the methods of measuring viewership no longer being valid?
How do I call a young person to ask him if he is willing to allow a gizmo to be hooked up to his tv so it can monitor what he watches? He has no lan line and uses his computer to watch television.
Maybe the Nielson generations are dying off.
Maybe they just are not representing anymore, if they ever did.
Nielsen is not perfect but it is nowhere near that far off. Ratings are poll results. Polling science is fairly accurate. The margins of difference talked about here is well within any conceivable margin of error.
Who is getting polled then? I have never, not once, been polled. I currently do not have a land line and have not had one in my adult life. So again, who are these households that participate in this polling?
Maybe FOX is more entertaining, more dynamic, more personable. CNN is cold. MSNBC can drag. But FOX just seems to be totally engaging. I write this as a Kennedy/O'Neil democrat from the Peoples Republic of Cambridge. MA. I am extremely concerned at the divisive content of FOX news that stirs peoples blood without regard to consequences. The killing of Dr. Tiller runs right through FOX News. But the reason FOX is winning is they are better broadcasters than the other guys, much better. CNN just can't seem to respond (Seriously, Larry King is still on in Prime?). MSNBC has found a few pieces of the puzzle, but they wandered the desert for so long there is no overall sense of direction. Roger Ailes is clearly the master communicator of cable news and obviously one of the most talented broadcast executives of all time. There is no one at the other networks that can compete with him.
Oh, and last I checked, MSNBC is still operating in Standard Definition. Perhaps this has recently changed, but honestly, NO HD for MSNBC. WTF?!!?
I read all my news, listen to all my radio online, watch most of the shows I like online. The demographic that watches Fox still consumes the lion's share of their media in the traditional manner. There is no company out there rating online consumption of media.
I also wonder how the steep rise in unemployment has affected ratings. People out of work usually cut off their cable. I know quite a few who have done that. Kept their internet and watch everying online. If I lose my job, our Dish will be one of the first things to go.
But in your last statement, you hit on something. The last election season was just brutal. People who don't find politics interesting outside of election season are probably a little sick of pollitics and pundits. But the scary types that went to the Palin/McCain hatefests are probably glued to Fox.
I find myself watching less than I used to. The right wing is just so ugly. How many times can I watch some cable news show giving a serious platform to right wingers on that call Obama a Marxist, Sotomayor a dumb racist, Pelosi a Socialist etc. That MSNBC keeps Pat Buchanan as a "Political Analyst" stupefies me. The only part of that title that fits Buchanan is the first four letters of the second word.
Your second paragraph rings true. Some members of my family and some friends have cut waaay back on their cable/satellite programs. I have to pay $12/mo. more in order to keep the programming tier MSNBC is offered in.
Folks are really hurting and extras are the first to go.
Over Christmas last year I was at a party where literally half the folks attending had lost their jobs. The host had a nice food spread and we were drinking decent wine...I made the joke that chances were our next winter holiday get together fare would be 'bathtub hooch and ketchup soup'. Everyone laughed.
Not laughing now. I'm in construction, unless something changes for the better soon I know I'm losing my job and my Dish. And the luxury of drinking decent wine.
Anyone here have a recipe for above average bathtub hooch?
The other part is also true: The so-called liberal media is seemingly an echo chamber for all things conservative and all things status quo!
I for one am not nearly as addicted to the news as I was say 6 or 8 months ago. I watched KO and RM each and every night and now not so much. I still watch one or the other 2 or 3 times a week. I keep up to date on the internet but I have other things to deal with right now.
But let me also cast a little doubt on the numbers. I am not and I have never known a Nielson family. I know they are supposed to keep things quiet, but still. Also the entire Cable News segment of the ratings covers maybe 1 percent of the population, maybe we should not worry about it.
And one other thing, my 75 year old father now watches TV with a remote in his hand and jumps all over the place, Fix, MSNBC, the ball game and the local news. Does anyone still watch a single station for the full half hour or hour?
Until I moved, I was part of the Nielson family. I wanted to take the boxes along with me when moving, but the company was not interested in me per se; they were interested in what the person/people at that address were watching. Sigh.
Anyway, my point is that Nielson people really exist.
How old are you and where do you live?
You must be logged in to comment. Log in or connect with
