Showing posts with label Fox News. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

American Elections 9 - Tips for International Followers - The News Media Election Coverage - Who is Paying Attention?

Here in America one would think the news media, with their Constitutional protection, would be a major source of information for the electorate. Unfortunately, educating the public takes a back seat to making money, even for the news media.

As you will note from the following articles, the news media can thank Donald Trump for their most profitable era in modern history, the era of Trump running for president. Ever since Trump, the consummate outsider, joined the race, the Nielsen ratings have virtually shot through the roof.

What used to be boring debates have doubled in viewers, town hall meetings have become national town halls, and the more Trump is featured by the cable news networks, the higher the ratings, and the more the profits.

Fox, CNN, and MSNBC have never had it so good thanks to the unconventional, non-politically correct, rambunctious, and free wheeling style of Donald Trump. Then again, America has never had a billionaire run for president.

Born into wealth and driven to success, Trump is a natural for a people sick and tired of empty promises, broken campaign pledges, and stagnating from intellectual constipation. His refusal to be labelled a conservative or liberal, and seeming disgust for the entire political system, gives him a unique and very dominating presence in the political landscape.

Trump says what he thinks how he thinks it. You may not like what you hear but you will always get the truth. The policies, utterances, and bombastic remarks he peppers the audience with during his gatherings of tens of thousands of people is refreshing in elections which are more often than not guided by polls. The only polls Trump believes are those showing him in front.

People believe Trump will fight for them, for their future, and against all odds and conventional wisdom and maybe, just maybe, a Rocky in their corner is far more important than a babbling politician. Trump has also played the media like no other candidate in our history.

Political reporters and pundits have pronounced his campaign dead over and over and here he is, leading the pack and closing in on the Republican nomination. Here are the latest reports on people following the election campaign. I urge you to play particular attention to the total viewers watching the various cable news shows. Remember, there are about 325 million Americans with 247 million of voting age.

On Media

Where politics meets the press

2016 election coverage keeps shattering cable news ratings records

For the first time since it launched in 1996, Fox News was the most-watched channel in all of cable TV last quarter, topping ESPN, which had NFL and college football playoff games; AMC, which televises the ratings juggernaut "The Walking Dead"; and TBS, which aired college basketball games and a number of high-profile comedy shows.

The 2016 election is proving to be a powerful force for Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, and all three of them are major beneficiaries of the chaos, drama and uncertainty that has surrounded the Republican and (to a lesser extent) Democratic campaigns.

To be certain, the nonstop onslaught of primary debates and town halls helped boost the ratings of the channels, but they were not necessarily the root cause of the ratings surge. In prime time last quarter, CNN had 12 debates and town halls, MSNBC had six, and Fox News had three, but Fox News still managed to top all of cable (and, of course, cable news) in total and demo viewers for the quarter, in both prime time and total day. In other words, the debates and town halls helped, but people were tuning in even without them.

CNN's staggering ratings rise, however, is also worth noting, as the channel saw its best quarterly ratings in total day since 2009 and in prime time since the 2008 election. Compared to the first quarter of 2015, CNN was up 165 percent in prime-time total viewers and 143 percent in the core news demographic of adults ages 25 to 54. Fox News was up 38 percent and 60 percent in those metrics, respectively, compared to last year, while MSNBC, with its still in-progress transition to emphasize breaking news, was up 66 percent and 71 percent.

The numbers for the first quarter of 2016, per Nielsen:

Prime time: Fox News, 2.37 million total viewers, 483,000 adults 25-54. CNN, 1.42 million total viewers, 455,000 adults 25-54. MSNBC, 888,000 total viewers, 226,000 adults 25-54.

Total day: Fox News, 1.35 million total viewers, 271,000 adults 25-54. CNN, 732,000 total viewers, 217,000 adults 25-54. MSNBC, 502,000 total viewers, 131,000 adults 25-54.

Fox and CNN Boast Historic Quarter; Fox Leads Basic Cable in Primetime and Total Day Viewership

by Mediaite Staff | 4:15 pm, March 29th, 2016

The first quarter of 2016 proved to be a historic ratings bonanza for both CNN and Fox News. For the first time in its history, Fox News beat out every other basic cable network for the highest primetime and total day viewership for the quarter. Meanwhile, CNN had its most-watched quarter in total day in seven years and best primetime since 2008.

For the first quarter of the year Fox netted 1,351,000 in total viewers and 271,000 in the demographic of adults aged 25-54 — a record-breaking quarter for total day. In primetime, it was Fox’s highest rated quarter since 2012, averaging 2,373,000 in total and 483,000 in demo. The historic quarter comes after 14 years as the most-watched cable news channel.

CNN narrowed the gap with Fox News to the closest it’s been in seven years. The news network took in 732,000 total viewers and 217,000 in demo for today day; in primetime, it averaged 1,419,000 total viewers and 455,000 in demo. No doubt the non-stop (ratings rich) political theater has helped CNN accomplish this. CNN had 12 debates and town halls, while MSNBC had 6 and Fox had just 3.

During the quarter, Fox snagged the top 14 cable news programs in total viewers and nine of the top 10 programs in the coveted 25-54 demographic. The O’Reilly Factor remains the top program in cable news, earning its highest-rated quarter since 2012 in both total (3,416,000) and demo (598,000). The Kelly File had its most-watched quarter in total viewers since its 2013 launch (2,516,000); it also took in 492,000 in demo. CNN notched two of the top 20 cable news programs, with Anderson Cooper 360 at #16 with 1,063,000 in total and 321,000 in demo; Erin Burnett Outfront at #20 with 843,000 in total and 253,000 in demo.

The midday America’s Newsroom, co-anchored by Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum earned its highest-rated quarter ever in total viewers with 1,621,000, while in March the mid-afternoon news show Shepard Smith Reporting had its highest-rated month in both total viewers (1,502,000) and the demo (248,000) since it was launched in Oct. 2013.

In addition to the strong showings from the primetime shows, individual telecasts related to election events drew record viewerships. The Mar. 3 GOP debate was the second-highest-rated telecast in the network’s history — second only to the GOP debate the network aired in August. The Mar. 15 primary night coverage, co-anchored by Bret Baier and Megyn Kelly, gave Fox the highest-rated primary night in cable news history.

Entertainment

Fox News Shows, Ranked: Who Is Highest-Rated Between Megyn Kelly, Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly (Photos)

Brian Flood,The Wrap

The Top 13 most-watched programs on cable news during the first quarter of 2016 are all on Fox News Channel. Megyn Kelly is one of the network’s biggest stars, but where does she rank among her colleagues when it comes to popularity?

13) The 11 p.m. ET repeat of “The O’Reilly Factor” is watched by more people than any show on CNN or MSNBC.

12) “The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson” averages 1.34 million viewers.

11) “Happening Now” with Jon Scott and Jenna Lee almost cracks the Top 10 programs on cable news.

10) “Shepard Smith Reporting” averages 1.43 million total viewers.

9) “Outnumbered” is an extremely popular show, especially considering the 12 noon ET start time.

8) “Your World” with Neil Cavuto draws 1.58 million viewers despite Donald Trump’s refusal to appear.

7) “America’s Newsroom” with Martha MacCallum and Bill Hemmer averages 1.62 million viewers.

6) “Hannity” has hosted numerous interviews with presidential candidates this election cycle.

5) “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” cracks the Top 5 most-watched cable news programs.

4) “The Five” is regularly among the most popular shows in all of cable.

3) “Special Report with Bret Baier” is seen by more people than all but two cable news programs.

2) “The Kelly File” is the second-most watched show on Fox News as Megyn Kelly gears up for a broadcast special on FOX.

1.) “The O’Reilly Factor” continues to dominate cable news, averaging 3.41 million total viewers compared to 2.51 for “The Kelly File.”

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Fox News Dominates Cable Ratings - Again

News Ratings

Entertainment

Fox News Channel Tops Basic Cable Quarter For First Time Ever

Lisa de Moraes,

Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdock

For the first time in its nearly 20-year history, Fox News Channel clocked the biggest quarterly crowd in basic cable, in primetime and in total day. In total day, FNC delivered its highest rated quarter ever in total viewers.

In outranking all other cable networks for the full quarter, FNC spent the past 10 consecutive weeks as the No. 1 cable channel in total day viewers.

The news channel, which has spent the past 14 years outstripping its cable news competition, this time bested all cable comers. In primetime, the network logged 2.37M viewers (up 26%), and 483K of them falling into the key news demo of viewers 25-54 years (up 50%). FNC’s total viewer take routed CNN’s 1.4M and MSNBC’s 888K. CNN jumped a whopping 165% compared to same quarter last year, while MSNBC grew 66%. Among 25-54 year olds, FNC edged out CNN’s 455K and bested MSNBC’s 226K. Here too, CNN soared, by 143%, to MSNBC”s 71% spike.

In total day, the network averaged 1.35M viewers (up 14%) and 271K news demo viewers (up 23%). In overall audience, FNC’s total day tally bests CNN’s 732K and MSNBC’s 502K combined. CNN is up 57% compared to first quarter of ’15 and MSNBC is up 59%. In the news demo, FNC’s 271K edged out CNN’s 217K and MSNBC’s 131K. MSNBC is up 54%, compared to CNN’s 48% gain and FNC’s 30%.

To get there, FNC notched the Top 14 cable news programs in total viewers and nine of the top 10 programs in the news demo. The O’Reilly Factor at 8PM ET continued as the most watched program in cable news and garnered its highest-rated quarter in both total viewers (3.4M) and news demo (598K) since 2012. The Kelly File at 9PM ET delivered its most-watched quarter since its launch in October 2013 (2.5M). They were closely followed by Special Report w/ Bret Baier (2.4M), The Five (2.3M), and On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren (2.1M). But FNC’s Hannity was up the most among FNC primetime programs for the quarter in total viewers (1,882,000, up 35%) and the demo (434,000, up 39%), delivering its highest-rated quarter since the net re-configured its primetime in ’13.

Also in the quarter, FNC logged top-rated primary debate of 2016, on March 3rd, averaging 17 million viewers. The network delivered the highest-rated primary night in cable news history on March 15th, with over 5M in total viewers for coverage of the Michigan and Ohio primary results, topping both MSNBC and CNN.

CNN, meanwhile, bagged its most-watched quarter in total day in seven years, and best primetime since 4Q 2008 in total viewers and the news demo. On the weekends, CNN ranked No. 1 in the first quarter across cable news among those viewers 25-54 in both total day and primetime. Of particular note, CNN narrowed the gap with Fox News to the closest it’s been in at least seven years in both total viewers and the news demo, in total day and in primetime. Fueling CNN’s quarterly ratings hikes were its 12 debates and town halls in the first quarter. MSNBC boosted its numbers with one debate and five town halls; FNC telecast two debates and one town hall.

MSNBC, meanwhile focused its 1Q ratings talk on its dayside gains for the quarter. In the daypart, the NBCU cable news net scored its best quarter in three years, in total viewers and the news demo. The network credits its shift to a renewed focus on breaking news in the Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM daypart. And, Morning Joe clocked its best quarter ever for MSNBC in the 6-9 AM timeslot.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

News Media Coverage of 2016 Presidential Election - Fair or Biased? Fox, CNN and MSNBC duke it out for ratings!

After the first caucus and primary and the stunning results to the prognostications of political pundits what have we learned?

The most dominant and controversial news media story this election season was the Comcast - MSNBC decision to depoliticize their left-leaning, progressive liberal news slant and attempt to compete as a real journalistic news organization.

Of course, the liberals were shocked and denounced the move, conservative citadel Fox News probably liked the chaos in their competitor, CNN did not like a challenge to their false claim of being the only source of fair and balanced reporting, and the radical mouthpieces of the old MSNBC screamed as they were ushered out the door.

Chris Matthew

Lawrence O’Donnell

In the ensuing months the MSNBC line up went through painful shake ups at the anchor and reporting levels and the results have been interesting to date. Unfortunately, MSNBC has continued to over-expose the old progressive-liberal anchors, guests, and reporters.

Rachel Maddow

Chris Hayes

People like Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, and Lawrence O’Donnell continue to trash Republicans in general, Trump in particular, and anyone not agreeing with their leftist views. The result for the New Hampshire primary, Fox garnered 4.17 million viewers, CNN 2.73 million viewers, and MSNBC 1.75 million viewers.

Overall cable news did quite well since all the major networks were running new shows for the Sweeps period. The Iowa caucus spectacle still drew higher ratings but a real battle between Fox and CNN is in place, and if MSNBC can continue to improve by eliminating the liberal bias and report more news, they could become a major force.

Brian Williams

More than anything else MSNBC needs continuity. In order to accommodate their anchor egos the election coverage is broken up between the return of Brian Williams and the revolving door of worn out radicals trashing the latest news developments rather than reporting the news.

A single host with alternating partners could solve the problem but the anchor should have no baggage and most MSNBC anchors have baggage. The sad news is that there are rising stars at MSNBC, the next generation of anchors and reporters, who are free of the bias in their reporting and entertaining to watch. They are getting lost in the constantly changing faces of election night coverage.

If I wanted to compete with CNN and eventually Fox here are the rising stars I would push to the forefront at MSNBC, the latest of the new journalists you should check out because of their news sense, journalistic principles, charisma, and camera presence.

Chuck Todd

Chuck Todd and Willie Geist are the most underutilized of all on air personalities. However, Chuck would be a great news analyst while Willie, effectively buried on the ego driven Morning Joe Show, could be one of those rare anchors who do not take themselves too seriously.

Willie Geist

Potential anchors

Steve Kornaski

Gigi Stone Woods

Reporters

Hallie Jackson

Jane Timm

Kate Snow

Anderson Cooper

Of course CNN has some of the same problem, too many old and worn out anchors and is slow to recognize and promote those fresh voices and faces. Continuity is also a problem but they do have some underutilized people and new faces.

Erin Burnett

Anderson Cooper remains one of the most unbiased and entertaining anchors on the air and Erin Burnett brings a lot of objectivity to the desk. Between them, they have helped drive CNN closer to Fox in the ratings. If they shared the anchor desk throughout the election night broadcast, the results could be interesting.

Here are the rising stars at CNN.

Anchors

Poppy Harlow

Reporters

Brianna Keilar

As Variety Magazine reported on the Nielsen survey of the election to date:

February 10, 2016 | 11:23AM PT

Rick Kissell

Senior Editor @ratesrick

Fox News Channel finished on top in both the demo (narrowly over CNN) and total viewers Tuesday as it and the other cable news networks combined for another sizable slice of the viewership pie with coverage of the New Hampshire primary.

Despite going up against all-original sweeps programming on the broadcast networks, Fox News Channel (4.17 million), CNN (2.73 million) and MSNBC (1.75 million) drew 8.65 million viewers during primetime, according to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen. Last night’s tune-in for the cable networks was well above average for a typical Tuesday but couldn’t quite match the record-setting tune-in eight nights earlier for coverage of the surprising results in the Iowa caucuses (10.16 million).

For Fox News, whose Tuesday coverage was anchored by Bret Baier and Megyn Kelly, last night’s average audience represents the second highest ever for a night of primary coverage, behind only its 4.46 million for the Iowa caucuses.

After finishing second to CNN in the key news demo of adults 25-54 on the night of the Iowa caucuses, FNC moved to the top spot on Tuesday. It averaged about 992,000 viewers in the age group, with CNN a close second (951,000) and MSNBC (494,000) drawing about half the total of its rivals.

CNN reported that CNN Digital’s traffic surpassed last week’s record-setting audience on the day of the Iowa Caucuses, with more than 7 million unique visitors and 15 million page views on CNNPolitics.com. Nearly 3 million unique users engaged on CNN’s mobile app and there were 13 million unique visitors for CNN Digital overall.

Tuesday night proved to be a big one for Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, who scored huge victories for their respective parties. Next up on the political front are a Democratic debate on Thursday (PBS) and a Republican debate on Saturday (CBS).

Friday, August 07, 2015

GOP Debate Shatters Records and Causes Media Schizophrenia

The biggest winners

Fox News

In the estimation of many reporters who cover the political and media beats, Fox News was the winner of the first GOP debate, and with the just-released ratings we can confirm that.

A whopping 24 million watched the debate from 9 p.m. ET to just past 11 p.m. ET. FNC drew 7.9 million in the A25-54 demo.

This is now the highest non-sports cable program of all time, the highest-rated cable news program of all time, and Fox News’s most-watched program ever.

The 5 p.m. ET debate, with the 7 lower-tier candidates did very well for Fox News too, drawing 6.1 million total viewers and 1.2 million in the demo, making it the third-highest primary debate ever on cable.

This broadcast more than doubled the ratings from the previous record, the Obama Clinton debate in April 2008 in which 10.7 million watched.

Roger Ailes

President of Fox News and mastermind of the network dominance of cable television news, it is possible the Fox viewers will surpass the network record for a presidential debate audience the record being 11.3 million by ABC Network.

Fox Commentators

Megyn Kelly, Bret Baier, and Chris Wallace not only kept total control of the ten candidates, they were accused by several news outlets of being far too tough, especially on Donald Trump. At the same time many liberal media praised them for the outstanding job of moderating.

Carly Fiorina

The California Corporate CEO literally blew the minds of everyone who did not know her, which was most people, with her presidential-like demeanor, knowledge, communications skills, presence, and grace. Far and away, the most articulate person on either debate, remember she was relegated to the Happy Hour debate, she made the most of the opportunity.

Not only was Carly the clear winner, she also nearly melted down Twitter and Facebook whenever she answered questions and at one point in the early debate she was the subject of 63% of all Tweets.

Carly was featured as a rising Republican star back in the Coltons Point Times on

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 09, 2010

Super Primary Tuesday - Winners and Losers - The People Speak Out

and a second article

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 09, 2010

Super Tuesday Election Results

Marco Rubio

The Cuban American seeking to become the first Hispanic president in our history came out of the woodwork and though appearing to be the youngest of all candidates, his was the most presidential presence of all the many candidates on stage. Beyond the image and composure, his answers were thorough, sharp, very appealing, and he is a great communicator.

Back in 2010 the Coltons Point Time featured Rubio in the following article:

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 03, 2010

Rising GOP Stars - Marco Rubio, Cuban American Tea Party Patriot

John Kasich

The Governor of Ohio, where the debate took place, was equally appealing with his down-home manner, his litany of experience, his compassion, empathy for everyone, his common sense and his folksy delivery.

The American People

In spite of technical glitches at the very beginning of the debate, which annoyed Megyn Kelly, and the lack of an audience for the early debate of seven, there were a number of outstanding aspects to the evening worthy of note.

The candidates, by and large, were exceptional, the subject area was extremely broad, the speakers kept within allotted times, the questions were direct and often controversial, and the exchanges between candidates were mostly good-natured, and civil.

Of course Trump was Trump but even he was more civil than usual and the liberal media had very little to criticize. Look for Fiorina, Rubio, and Kasich to leap up in the post-debate polls.

As mentioned, the debate media coverage was all over the map with no logical pattern of what the most liberal papers said, but in the end the American people, not the media will pick the winner.

Finally,

The Biggest Loser

Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party

It appears they are finally realizing that there are 17 qualified Republican candidates dominating the news and with Hillary's commanding lead she will not be seriously challenged until a year from this coming September when the conventions are over.

Until then she has to compete with the Republican field for media attention. With Hillary trying to be a left-leaning liberal so as not to lose her base, her only competitors are Bernie Sanders, a 73 year old Socialist, and Martin O'Malley, a Progressive and former Governor of financially-strapped Maryland.

It should be interesting with her light years ahead in the polls.

Publishing Notice

All media, photos, logos, trademarks and other copyright materials in The Coltons Point Times are being used under fair use provisions of the Copyright Law of the United States of America, Title 17, Section 107 of the United States Code. Such materials found on this website are copyrighted to the respected owners unless stated otherwise.