|
|
At CNBC, it's still
all about the daytime
Never mind that 'McEnroe' bombed as a talker
By Diego Vasquez
When CNBC canceled “McEnroe” more than two
weeks ago, it had the feel about it of a mercy killing of the sort seen at
sister network MSNBC in recent years, where such nighttime chatters as
Phil Donahue were slashed following disappointing ratings.
CNBC has had its own struggle with ratings, for sure. In
November, CNBC averaged 138,000 total-day viewers, down 27 percent versus
the 190,000 it averaged in November 2003.
And as if that weren't enough, the financial news channel
must worry about Rupert Murdoch's ambitions for launching a competing
cable business news network next year that would compete directly with
CNBC for viewers and advertisers.
Yet, as cable news networks go, CNBC in some ways has not all that
much to worry about, certainly compared with MSNBC in its No. 3 position
behind CNN and Fox News.
Further, what CNBC does during primetime hours, whether
airing tennis bad boy McEnroe or advertising's Donny Deutsch, whose “The
Big Idea” is moving from one night to five, may not be all that
critical.
That's because of CNBC's unique franchise delivering daytime
financial news to the professional investment community, Wall Street. It's
a comparatively tiny audience, and it's an away-from-home audience as
well, beyond Nielsen's measuring. But it's an audience that at whatever
size, advertisers deeply cherish.
“CNBC’s money-making activity is during the day,
not in primetime,” observes Andrew Tyndall of The Tyndall Report, a
weekly newsletter that follows television news. “That has very little to
do with its profitability."
As Tyndall points out, the network's parent has far
more concerns elsewhere. He says: “All attention should probably go to
MSNBC in primetime first."
In fact, despite the bombing of McEnroe, whose ratings
sometimes showed nary a pulse, CNBC is actually up slightly in primetime.
Through November, it was averaging 158,000 viewers compared with 156,000
through November 2003. “McEnroe” launched in June and numbers for that
timeslot began a quick descent, in the first week averaging 174,000
viewers, down from the 200,000 Brian Williams averaged in the 10 p.m.
slot, and
sliding to 75,000 at the time of cancellation.
In addition to McEnroe and Deutsch, CNBC also airs funny guy
Dennis Miller, as well as reruns of “The Apprentice” and “Late Night
with Conan O’Brien.”
What CNBC ought to do with its primetime is the question. And maybe
entertainment is the right way to go, with the network serving as a
staging area of sorts for talents such as O'Brien.
"I actually think that’s a brilliant idea, considering he’s
taking over ‘Tonight,’" says Stuart Zuckerman, vice president of
sales and marketing for PBS’s “Nightly Business Report.” Zuckerman
compares it to MSNBC giving Brian Williams his own newscast as he waited
in the wings for Tom Brokaw to retire.
“They’ve come to the conclusion that they want to be in
the entertainment business in primetime,” Zuckerman says.
But from Tyndall's perspective, CNBC's biggest concern ought to
be making sure that CNBC's primetime lineup doesn't cannibalize viewers from
other NBC Universal networks, notably MSNBC, Bravo and USA.
Is entertainment too close? Perhaps.
His
solution? High-end sports.
“You could use that as a way to keep and build NBC’s
location as an Olympic channel,” he says, suggesting coverage of elite
sports like yachting, archery and lacrosse, as well as other sports
popular among the affluent male Wall Street audience CNBC attracts, such
as golf and tennis.
“High-end sports demographically have more in common with
its daytime programming than ‘Conan’ does,” Tyndall says.
High-end sports would not pull viewers from other NBC
properties and it would not put it in direct competition with ESPN.
Further, it would be opportunity to attract advertising from makers of
golf clubs, tennis rackets and high-end sports products of the sort
purchased by Wall Streeters.
The big unknown is what CNBC has to fear from Murdoch's proposed
business news channel. Fox News a few years ago walked past MSNBC,
encountering no resistance, and then on to become the No. 1 cable news
network.
But some believe a Fox financial news network would have a
far tougher time against CNBC, which is so deeply entrenched on Wall
Street. Fox's strategy may be to go for a broader audience, seeking
out the average investor who reads Money and Smart Money. But it's not a
given that such readers would become viewers.
A lot will depend on what News Corp. comes up with as its
game plan for the new network, and that won't be anytime soon.
But in any case it will not make life any easier for CNBC. Says
Zuckerman: “It’s hard to bet against Fox.”
|
Dec. 14, 2004
©
2004
Media Life
- Diego Vasquez is a staff writer
for Media Life.
|
|
|
|
