The real draw of
Fox News with viewers
Its ratings have shot up on its ability to rally viewers
By Tom Conroy
Jan 6, 2010
Fox News Channel ends the decade as one of the great success stories in cable television. Nielsen’s final ratings numbers for 2009 show the network drawing 545,000 primetime viewers 25-54, advertisers’ target demographic for TV news.
That’s up 10 percent over the already-high numbers Fox drew during the election year of 2008.
Contrast that success with the numbers of Fox’s two main competitors, CNN and MSNBC. CNN drew 264,000 viewers in the demographic, down 42 percent from the election-inflated 2008, and MSNBC drew 280,000, down 24 percent. This also is the first year that CNN has finished behind both Fox and MSNBC in primetime.
So how did Fox manage to grow in a year that saw cable news in general suffer such large declines? A look at cable news ratings over the last decade gives some clues.
It somewhat deflates the widely held notion that Fox has seen a steady growth in ratings over the past decade by aligning itself with conservative and largely Republican issues.
In fact, Fox's growth has not been a steady climb but a series of ups and flat or down periods. The growth phases have come when it's found itself an enemy or enemies it could rally viewers against.
The flat and down periods came when it lacked enemies with sufficient wattage to crank up viewers' tempers.
Fox first challenged and then surpassed CNN in 2001, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, its unabashedly us-against-them coverage attracting viewers who were looking for something more stirring than CNN’s straight news coverage. Those steep increases continued in 2002 and 2003 while the country launched the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
But in subsequent years, as the news on those two fronts became increasingly ambiguous, the channel’s primetime numbers in the 25-54 demographic either declined or flattened. Its supportive coverage of the Bush White House may have pleased Republicans but it did little to build ratings.
Fox was by then well ahead of CNN but it was no longer growing at the earlier pace.
Then came 2008 and the race for the White House. The Obama-Clinton and then Obama-McCain races helped pump up ratings for all the cable news networks. CNN in particular saw strong growth as viewers tuned in for its day-to-day coverage of the races.
But if it looked as though CNN was set to ride high on the strength of its election coverage, those hopes were dashed as the Obama administration got underway.
The network that came out ahead was Fox, as the year-end 2009 numbers show, while CNN took the worst beating.
The reason is pretty obvious.
CNN lost its huge advantage, the magnetic draw of its on-the-ground coverage. That's one of the problems of news; when the news is less exciting, you still have to fill so many hours of air time each day.
By contrast, Fox was able to play to its greatest strength, its ability to rally viewers around someone to make their blood boil.
In place of Osama bin Laden, it offered up Barack Obama, the Obama White House, and the Democratic-run Congress. It filled out its coverage with supportive reports on the tea-party movement and the anti-health-care-reform rallies.
The advantage, of course, is that viewers will keep tuning in, even when there's nothing news-worthy to report, which in the news business is a good part of the time.
The us-versus-them strategy has also worked for MSNBC. After wandering about the political map for some years, the network began targeting the Bush administration as problems multiplied and his popularity declined from 2004 to 2007. That left-skewing coverage drew an increasingly large audience, but with Bush now gone and largely forgotten, it has seen its numbers fall.
There may be a positive lesson here for CNN. Despite its disastrous ratings declines, the network’s numbers for 2009 are still slightly above the averages for the years 2004 to 2007. It suggests that in fact it was able to maintain some of the momentum of its election coverage.
***
|
TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Ranked on Household Rating
Full Year 2009 |
|
Rank |
Primetime |
Total Day |
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1
|
USA
|
2428
|
NICK
|
1679
|
|
2
|
ESPN
|
1731
|
NAN *
|
1282
|
|
3
|
TNT
|
1696
|
USA
|
1228
|
|
4
|
FOXN
|
1690
|
TNT
|
1026
|
|
5
|
NAN
|
1372
|
FOXN
|
985
|
|
6
|
TBSC
|
1363
|
ADSM*
|
922
|
|
7
|
AEN
|
1126
|
ESPN
|
829
|
|
8
|
FX
|
1007
|
TOON
|
826
|
|
9
|
HGTV
|
981
|
TBSC
|
772
|
|
10
|
TOON
|
977
|
AEN
|
658
|
|
11
|
LIF
|
960
|
LIF
|
626
|
|
12
|
HIST
|
954
|
HIST
|
598
|
|
13
|
FAM
|
952
|
TRU
|
584
|
|
14
|
SYFY
|
934
|
FX
|
568
|
|
15
|
DISC
|
921
|
DISC
|
563
|
|
16
|
HALL
|
872
|
FOOD
|
558
|
|
17
|
TLC
|
844
|
HGTV
|
551
|
|
18
|
FOOD
|
836
|
SPK
|
535
|
|
19
|
TRU
|
799
|
FAM
|
528
|
|
20
|
SPK
|
795
|
HALL
|
517
|
|
21
|
AMC
|
791
|
CNN
|
513
|
|
22
|
CMDY
|
767
|
AMC
|
469
|
|
23
|
CNN
|
731
|
CMDY
|
458
|
|
24
|
MTV
|
641
|
TVLD
|
452
|
|
25
|
BRAV
|
637
|
SYFY
|
444
|
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
|
TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE PROGRAMS
Ranked on Total Viewers
Full Year 2009
|
|
Rank
|
Program |
Net
|
Rating
|
(000) |
|
1
|
Packers/Vikings
|
ESPN
|
15184
|
21898
|
|
2
|
Patriots/Saints
|
ESPN
|
14912
|
21449
|
|
3
|
Steelers/Broncos
|
ESPN
|
11403
|
16069
|
|
4
|
Panthers/Cowboys
|
ESPN
|
11377
|
15735
|
|
5
|
Colts/Dolphins
|
ESPN
|
10860
|
14726
|
|
6
|
Bills/Patriots
|
ESPN
|
10245
|
14021
|
|
7
|
Jets/Dolphins
|
ESPN
|
9677
|
13506
|
|
8
|
Ravens/Packers
|
ESPN
|
9592
|
13500
|
|
9
|
Broncos/Chargers
|
ESPN
|
9557
|
13163
|
|
10
|
Cardinals/49ers
|
ESPN
|
9529
|
13077
|
|
11
|
Eagles/Redskins
|
ESPN
|
9279
|
12788
|
|
12
|
Falcons/Saints
|
ESPN
|
8828
|
12400
|
|
13
|
Chargers/Raiders
|
ESPN
|
8815
|
12103
|
|
14
|
Titans/Texans
|
ESPN
|
8807
|
11992
|
|
15
|
Giants/Redskins
|
ESPN
|
8366
|
11343
|
|
16
|
Jon & Kate Plus 8
|
TLC
|
8085
|
11200
|
|
17
|
Ravens/Browns
|
ESPN
|
7496
|
10909
|
|
18
|
College Football-Saturday Prime
|
ESPN
|
7270
|
10656
|
|
19
|
Cavaliers/Magic
|
TNT
|
7246
|
10622
|
|
20
|
Jon & Kate Plus 8
|
TLC
|
7238
|
10621
|
|
21
|
Magic/Cavaliers
|
TNT
|
7099
|
10497
|
|
22
|
Monk
|
USA
|
6993
|
10214
|
|
23
|
Lakers/Nuggets
|
ESPN
|
6699
|
10104
|
|
24
|
2009 - Cowboys vs. Saints
|
NFLN
|
6591
|
10016
|
|
25
|
Lakers/Nuggets
|
ESPN
|
6369
|
9903
|
|
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 18-34
Full Year 2009 |
|
Rank |
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1
|
USA
|
616
|
ADSM*
|
448
|
|
2
|
TBSC
|
595
|
NAN *
|
363
|
|
3
|
ESPN
|
531
|
NICK
|
345
|
|
4
|
TNT
|
451
|
TBSC
|
322
|
|
5
|
MTV
|
403
|
ESPN
|
304
|
|
6
|
FX
|
397
|
USA
|
290
|
|
7
|
CMDY
|
362
|
TNT
|
269
|
|
8
|
FAM
|
329
|
MTV
|
234
|
|
9
|
VH1
|
315
|
FX
|
224
|
|
10
|
DISC
|
314
|
CMDY
|
220
|
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 18-34
Full Year 2009 |
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1
|
Packers/Vikings
|
ESPN
|
5613
|
|
2
|
Patriots/Saints
|
ESPN
|
5397
|
|
3
|
2009 Video Music Awards
|
MTV
|
4446
|
|
4
|
Steelers/Broncos
|
ESPN
|
4038
|
|
5
|
Jon & Kate Plus 8
|
TLC
|
3997
|
|
6
|
Jon & Kate Plus 8
|
TLC
|
3963
|
|
7
|
Panthers/Cowboys
|
ESPN
|
3953
|
|
8
|
Chargers/Raiders
|
ESPN
|
3916
|
|
9
|
Colts/Dolphins
|
ESPN
|
3887
|
|
10
|
2009 VMA Postshow
|
MTV
|
3812
|
|
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 18-49
Full Year 2009 |
|
Rank |
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1
|
USA
|
1383
|
USA
|
660
|
|
2
|
ESPN
|
1108
|
NAN *
|
631
|
|
3
|
TBSC
|
1068
|
TNT
|
617
|
|
4
|
TNT
|
1028
|
ADSM*
|
611
|
|
5
|
FX
|
780
|
TBSC
|
583
|
|
6
|
AEN
|
706
|
ESPN
|
568
|
|
7
|
DISC
|
673
|
NICK
|
560
|
|
8
|
FAM
|
613
|
FX
|
425
|
|
9
|
SYFY
|
607
|
AEN
|
392
|
|
10
|
SPK
|
591
|
DISC
|
382
|
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 18-49
Full Year 2009 |
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1
|
Packers/Vikings
|
ESPN
|
11938
|
|
2
|
Patriots/Saints
|
ESPN
|
11210
|
|
3
|
Panthers/Cowboys
|
ESPN
|
8644
|
|
4
|
Steelers/Broncos
|
ESPN
|
8640
|
|
5
|
Colts/Dolphins
|
ESPN
|
7790
|
|
6
|
Bills/Patriots
|
ESPN
|
7757
|
|
7
|
Chargers/Raiders
|
ESPN
|
7569
|
|
8
|
Broncos/Chargers
|
ESPN
|
7245
|
|
9
|
Jets/Dolphins
|
ESPN
|
7102
|
|
10
|
Ravens/Packers
|
ESPN
|
6950
|
|
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 25-54
Full Year 2009 |
|
|
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
|
Rank
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1
|
USA
|
1492
|
USA
|
708
|
|
2
|
ESPN
|
1115
|
TNT
|
649
|
|
3
|
TNT
|
1098
|
NAN *
|
522
|
|
4
|
TBSC
|
936
|
ESPN
|
520
|
|
5
|
AEN
|
737
|
TBSC
|
509
|
|
6
|
FX
|
723
|
NICK
|
456
|
|
7
|
SYFY
|
690
|
AEN
|
410
|
|
8
|
DISC
|
664
|
ADSM*
|
403
|
|
9
|
HIST
|
617
|
FX
|
378
|
|
10
|
FOOD
|
590
|
TRU
|
377
|
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 25-54
Full Year 2009 |
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1
|
Packers/Vikings
|
ESPN
|
11778
|
|
2
|
Patriots/Saints
|
ESPN
|
11264
|
|
3
|
Steelers/Broncos
|
ESPN
|
8728
|
|
4
|
Panthers/Cowboys
|
ESPN
|
8442
|
|
5
|
Colts/Dolphins
|
ESPN
|
7529
|
|
6
|
Bills/Patriots
|
ESPN
|
7426
|
|
7
|
Broncos/Chargers
|
ESPN
|
7262
|
|
8
|
Jets/Dolphins
|
ESPN
|
7161
|
|
9
|
Chargers/Raiders
|
ESPN
|
7050
|
|
10
|
Ravens/Packers
|
ESPN
|
6986
|
|
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
|
|
|
