Fox News Dominates Cable Ratings - Again

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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.

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Huffington Post and Fox News disputes with Donald Trump - Arianna Huffington is no Roger Ailes

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A long festering feud of sorts has offered an interesting sidelight to the media coverage of the presidential campaign.  It all started when Arianna Huffington's Huffington Post news media manufacturing shop decided Donald Trump was not worthy of being covered as news.

Here was what her minions said about it.

A Note About Our Coverage Of Donald Trump's 'Campaign'

Ryan Grim Washington bureau chief for The Huffington Post

Danny Shea Editorial Director, The Huffington Post

After watching and listening to Donald Trump since he announced his candidacy for president we decided we won't report on Trump's campaign as part of The Huffington Post's political coverage. Instead, we will cover his campaign as part of our Entertainment section. Our reason is simple: Trump's campaign is a sideshow. We won't take the bait. If you are interested in what The Donald has to say, you'll find it next to our stories on the Kardashians and The Bachelorette.

Huffington Post Washington bureau chief Ryan Grim also dismissed Trump as a "clownshow" in an interview about the decision with Business Insider.

In his interview with Business Insider, Grim said Trump is only performing well in the polls "because of the big field" in the Republican primary.

Of course, the Donald responded in typical Trump fashion, take no prisoners.

Donald Trump's campaign dismissed the Huffington Post as a "glorified blog" in a statement on Friday evening.

"The only clown show in this scenario is the Huffington Post pretending to be a legitimate news source," the Trump campaign statement said. 

Though the statement was titled "Donald J. Trump Response To Huffington Post," a Trump spokeswoman said it was attributable to his campaign. The statement pointed to the fact Trump has previously criticized the Huffington Post on Twitter.

"If you read previously written Tweets, Mr. Trump has never been a fan of Arianna Huffington or the money-losing Huffington Post," the statement said.

Indeed, in one 2012 tweet, Trump launched a series of personal attacks on the site's cofounder and editor in chief, Arianna Huffington, that referenced her 1997 divorce from a former congressman who later announced he was gay.

Trump tweeted, "@ariannahuff is unattractive both inside and out. I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man - he made a good decision."

For the record, Arianna and Michael Huffington split in 1997 ... and a year later, the former congressman revealed that he's bisexual. Michael is now a gay rights activist.

Trump has been ripping the Huffington Post ever since the website ran a story on August 16, which attempted to uncover why Donald has been so "crabby" recently.

After the article ran, Trump called the Post a "loser" that will "die like AOL is dying."

The Trump campaign's statement also touted his positioning in a series of polls and vowed he would win the first two presidential primaries. 

"Mr. Trump is number one in the unimportant Huffington Post poll, along with all other recently released polls including Reuters, FOX, USA Today/Suffolk University, and The Economist. Mr. Trump is in first place in Nevada, where he is also number one, by a wide margin, with Hispanics. He is number one in North Carolina and expects to win Iowa and New Hampshire," the statement said.

Arianna long has been a fixture in the NYC and California elite social circles.

She began The Huffington Post on May 10, 2005, as a liberal/left commentary outlet and alternative to news aggregators such as the Drudge Report.

AOL acquired the mass market Huffington Post for $315 million on February 7, 2011, making Arianna Huffington editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post Media Group.

Though inspired by Drudge, Fox News is the real enemy to all progressive, leftist, liberal bastions like the Huffer.  Perhaps Arianna is trying to become the equal to Fox News President Roger Ailes.

Ironically, both Roger Ailes (Fox) and Arianna Huffington (Huffington Post) have had recent public disputes with Donald Trump but the different way they responded explains why Arianna is no Roger Ailes.

When Trump complained that Fox News was too tough on him in the first debate, Ailes talked to him directly and worked out an arrangement to make sure he received full and fair news coverage from Fox.

When Arianna got upset with Trump, she ordered her supposedly professional reporters to treat him as entertainment, not news, and like a clown, not viable candidate for office.  I suppose such is the reaction one might expect considering the diametrically opposed political philosophies of the two although prejudging the news is rather rare in journalism.

As Trump climbed to the top of the polls and the Huffer continued to ignore him they lost out on a massive opportunity to make money off the Donald.  No other liberal media outlet took such bizarre action and then sent out mouthpieces to dish the Trump campaign as clownish, not even The New York Times or Washington Post.

Perhaps such different reactions by Ailes and Huffington, explains why Fox News continues to dominate the cable airways.

Arianna Huffington created her news service in 2005.  After 10 years in business, Arianna had sold the Huffington Post in 2011 for $315 million when she was a minority stockholder, and received $18 million for the company she started.  She reportedly receives a salary of $4 million per year.

Roger Ailes was named the founding CEO of Fox News when it was started by Rupert Murdock in 1996.  During his twenty year reign Fox News totally dominated cable news, and he built the value of the network to the #48 most valuable brand in America, at $13.3 billion in revenue with a value of $11.3 billion according to Forbes Magazine.  Roger receives over $20 million a year as Chairman and CEO.

There is a reason Roger Ailes is rated one of the most powerful people in the news media.  He learned the business from the inside out and along the way was a crucial media advisor to Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, and made many media personalities famous like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, and Megyn Kelly.

Perhaps Arianna should learn from the Master Roger Ailes and treat Trump as a viable presidential candidate instead of playing juvenile games that demean the news business in America.

Of course the always unpredictable Trump will test the patience of anyone over and over. Just tonight, August 25, he again took a shot at Megyn Kelly for no particular reason and this time Roger Ailes has demanded Trump apologize to the Golden Girl of the Fox News network.  Stay tuned for the latest update. 

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GOP Debate Shatters Records and Causes Media Schizophrenia

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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.

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Love 'em or hate 'em - Fox News Continues Domination

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Fox News Exec Talks 50-Quarter Ratings Streak, Megyn Kelly and Benghazi

By Michael O'Connell

Perennial ratings victor Fox News Channel celebrates a new feat this week: it just wrapped its 50th consecutive quarter (and 150th consecutive month) as the most-watched cable news network in both total day and primetime. Its a record only matched by ESPN, which has enjoyed a similar dominance in the sports category.

Though FNC, like all cable news networks, saw year-to-year losses in the second quarter, its average 1.6 million viewers and 267,000 adults 25-54 still gives it large margins of victory in primetime -- where its biggest competition might be with itself. Recent weeks have seen 9 p.m. anchor Megyn Kelly enjoying multiple nights out-rating her lead-in, reigning cable news champ Bill O'Reilly. That achievement is not lost on FNC executive vp of programming Bill Shine, who spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the streak, the year of changes and some recent coverage choices. 

"For us, that was a big change, we hardly make any adjustments our primetime lineup," Shine says of the decision to move Kelly from daytime to prime. "[She's] much newsier. And I think we're fortunate to have good timing."

That timing includes Kelly's arrival during the rocky launch of HealthCare.gov and the recent story of released P.O.W. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl -- which Kelly was one of the first to cover heavily. She's also found herself at the center the pop culture conversation, at least more so than her FNC colleagues, with interviews like June's heated exchange with former vice president (and Republican) Dick Cheney. 

"I think it shows who Megyn is," says Shine. "She's a great broadcaster and she's a great journalist. I think it also shows some of our competition and some of our skeptics what we do over here. I always say a lot of people who don't like us, don't watch us."

There are people watching, though. And while there have been big changes to primetime, Shine sees the network's few changes to its talent roster as one thing that has kept them around. "I think we've had a lot consistency. You look at people like Bill and Sean [Hannity], they've both been here since day one. Shep Smith and Neil Cavuto have both been here since day one."

Some critics have called out that consistency as one reason why FNC's average viewer is now over 65 years old, but Shine says an increased median age is something affecting all networks.

Roger Ailes, Fox News President

"It's happening to most everyone in television, and in terms of the economics of it, we don't buy and sell on that data," Shine tells THR. "We buy and sell on the demo, and we're still clearly winning the demo race amongst our competitors -- combined in some cases. Is it something we keep our eye on? Absolutely. But it's not something I currently go home and lose sleep over."

Shine also says his eye is on the competition. He's not ignoring CNN's decision to ditch live news coverage for documentary news at cable news' traditional flagship hour of 9 p.m. -- "They've decided to go in another direction, and I think you've got to give them some time to see if it works." -- though he is committed to live programming and now considers their primetime block beginning at 5 p.m. with The Five. That show now goes back and forth with Kelly for the No. 2 or No. 3 telecast on cable news.

One thing Shine says he's not paying attention to is criticism over the network's reputation for conservative slant. And he's quick to point at Kelly as someone who can potentially chip away at that reputation. He also says that the recent reassurance in attention on the U.S. handling of the 2012 attack on the American diplomatic mission at Benghazi, Libya, has vindicated FNC's decision to heavily cover it for the last two years.

Fox personalities

 FNC was one of several outlets that recently greeted former Secretary of State and potential 2016 presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, promoting her book Hard Choices, and focused some of the interview on Benghazi.

"What we heard for years was that it was not a real story -- four dead Americans, including the first U.S. Ambassador in a generation -- but as soon as the Secretary's book came out, it was enough of a story for her to devote an entire chapter of it," says Shine. "And at the beginning of the book tour, all of the broadcast journalists were basing the news around the Benghazi stuff. It is kind of ironic and humorous for a story that apparently was not important and only being pushed by Fox to end up being so significant in terms of newsworthiness." 

Second Quarter 2014 Primetime Averages

FNC: 1,596,000 viewers, down 16 percent (267,000 adults 25-54, down 16 percent)

CNN: 459,000 viewers, down 31 percent (157,000 adults 25-54, down 31 percent)

MSNBC: 577,000 viewers, flat (160,000 adults 25-54, down 16 percent)

HLN: 338,000 viewers, down 35 percent (124,000 adults 25-54, down 30 percent)

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Fox News Blows Out News Competitors, Dominate Cable

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Surprise, surprise, Roger Ailes, that demon to all liberals in America, once again simply trounced all the other cable news shows through the entire prime time slot according to the latest October cable news ratings.

So dominant was Fox that Megyn Kelly's brand new show finished the October sweeps number two of all prime time cable news shows, behind The O'Reilly Factor.  Nice launch Megyn.

 

Is there any wonder which of the following news personalities had a higher rating than the other two combined?

 

Now I confess, that is not how Megyn looks on her new show.  Neither is the fact that another "Fox" is on Fox.  She was a jock and cheerleader in school.  But she also was smart, had a law degree, was a ratings magnet and asked for the job.  Here is the "on air" look.

 

 

As the following "ratings" articles show, the Fox prime time shows (7 to 11 PM) had 2.12 million average viewers, more than all their competitors (CNN, MSNBC and HLN) combined.  Whew!

Okay, no big surprise since Fox has been #1 in total daytime and prime time cable for the past 141 straight months.  That is #1 for the entire presidential career of Barack Obama and dating all the way back to 2001, the year of the World Trade Center 9/11 attacks.

Here are articles describing the latest October sweeps.

Fox Tops October Cable News Ratings With Revamped Primetime; ‘The Kelly File’ Ends First Month In No. 2 Spot Behind O’Reilly

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Tuesday October 29, 2013 @ 12:00pm PDTTags: CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, TV Ratings

A month ago Megyn Kelly didn’t have a primetime gig, but now The Kelly File is the No. 2 show on cable news after The O’Reilly Factor. Since its October 7 launch with Fox News’ primetime revamp, the new show has averaged 2.23 million total viewers and 383,000 viewers among adults 25-54 in its 9 PM slot. That’s behind its Bill O’Reilly lead-in (2.84 million and 458,000) and in front of The Five (2.14 million and 369,000). No big surprise that after 141 months at No. 1 in total day and primetime among the cable news networks, FNC won the October ratings battle. Still, it did have nine of the top 10 shows on cable news, with only MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show breaking the monolith at No. 9. FNC also came in at the No. 3 behind TBS and ESPN in cable overall in primetime for the month. News rivals MSNBC, CNN and HLN were far behind at No. 22, No. 33 and No. 45, respectively. Overall, with 2.12 million watching, FNC had more viewers during its new 7-11 PM primetime than CNN (627,000), MSNBC (991,000) and HLN (247,000) put together.

Looking at the ratings for 7 PM to 11 PM since its primetime relaunch versus Q3 2013, FNC is up 22% in total viewers (2.15 million) and 20% in the 25-54 demo (373,000). In primetime MSNBC saw a strong 59% viewership rise (to 976,000) and a 38% demo rise (237,000). After cratering earlier this year, the now-ratings-rebuilding NBCU-owned network certainly was helped this month by a series of well-received specials and docs plus the October 11 launch of the heavily promoted Up Late With Alec Baldwin. CNN saw a small bop of 7% in viewership (569,000) and 1% demo growth (171,000) when compared to Q3 2013. That’s in contrast to last October when all of the cable news networks saw viewership and demo surges with all-election-all-the-time coverage as the presidential race entered the final stretch. FNC actually was No. 1 in all of primetime cable. That once-every-four-years anomaly now has FNC, CNN and MSNBC and all down double digits from last October.

 

 

CNN’s Relaunched ‘Crossfire’ Hits Viewer & Demo Low

By DOMINIC PATTEN 13 hours ago

CNN’s Relaunched ‘Crossfire’ Hits Viewer & Demo Low

Looks like troubles come in threes for CNN lately. First the cable news company had its worst single primetime in over a year on October 30, then it had its worst week since Jeff Zucker took over and now the relaunched Crossfire has hit new lows. Resuscitated on September 9 after eight years off the air, the political debate show pulled in just 233,00 viewers overall and a mere 59,000 among adults 25-54 between 6:30 PM and 7 PM on Monday. Full-hour time-slot rivals on Fox News Channel and MSNBC did a lot better — to put it mildly. FNC’s Special Report had 2.44 million viewers with 411,000 in the key news demo, while MSNBC’s Al Sharpton-hosted PoliticsNation had 707,000 total viewers and 170,000 among the 25-54s.

Related: CNN Falls To Lowest Daily Primetime In Over A Year
Monday’s results represent a significant drop from the October 3 high the Newt Gingrich, Stephanie Cutter, S.E. Cupp and Van Jones hosted show hit with 891,000 total viewers and 326,000 in the demo. Crossfire’s previous viewership low was on October 25 when it had 251,000 total viewers. The previous demo low was on September 20 when it drew just 66,000 viewers among adults 25-54. The September 9 debut of the show earlier this year had a modest 581,000 viewers and 171,000 in the demo.