(WORST RATINGS SINCE 9/11) Fox News Ratings Hit 12-Year Demo Lows In January Cable News Figures

[kpete]

Source: Huffington Post

Fox News Ratings Hit 12-Year Demo Lows In January Cable News Figures

At the end of each month, cable news ratings are released to the public. And, like clockwork, Fox News dominates the top 13 or so programs, far outstripping its competitors.

January was ... a little different. To be sure, everything is relative in cable news: Fox News still had nine out of the top ten programs. It has spent 11 consecutive years as the top-rated cable news channel. Its 6 AM show drew almost double the ratings of CNN's top-ranking prime time show.

But, as rival MSNBC was quick to point out, and BuzzFeed was quick to trumpet, Fox News had its worst primetime ratings in the coveted 25-54 demo since August 2001, and its lowest total day ratings since June 2008.

To a seasoned watcher of cable news ratings, there were other surprises. Rachel Maddow, for instance, came in 10th, beating "Studio B" and the 11 PM repeat of "The O'Reilly Factor." In January 2012, she came in 14th. It may not seem like much, but the top of the cable news field has been extremely stable — and if Maddow were to continue creeping up the list, it would mean a real sea change. Overall, MSNBC — perhaps powered by liberal euphoria over President Obama's inauguration — was the only cable news channel to grow its ratings from 2012.


Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/29/fox-news-ratings-lows-cable-news-january_n_2576689.html

[OriginalGeek]

1. I wish i had had this report a couple weeks ago

I have a moron right wing step-relative of some kind whom I am required to be nice to for some reason. But I don;t wanna. He posted some crazy bullshit FB story about how Fox is at an all-time high and instead of calling him out for his stupidity I just hid it kept my mouth shut. It's one thing to tolerate ignorance and in the interest family harmony I don't say about 98% of the shit I want to say to him but if I coulda had cold hard facts I'da gave him what for.



I dumped all over another friend from high school who posted some Jeff Foxworthy drivel* today. I'm glad I don;t have to be nice to everyone.


*I looked at snopes to see if he even really said it but they had nothing on this specific thing.

[mountain grammy]

2. they lost one last Nov. when my Republican father in law died at 91

That's the fox audience. And he told me he voted for FDR 4 times. If you watch fox, you'll notice they don't talk so much about Social Security, Medicare or FDR, cause they sure would have lost my father in law. They rant about guns, abortion, gays, prayer in school, etc, etc. One of my FIL's best friends ranted about how Obama was gonna take our guns, and I thought, well, old man, the Republicans want to take your Social Security and Medicare, how about that? But arguing would have been pointless cause he never heard that on fox news.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

16. If the Right Wing thinks it has a problem with Latinos, wait until their audience dies off.

The younger generation coming up is far more left leaning than the "Me" generation or "Gen X".

[Mr. Sinister]

3. The Holiday Inn Express in Melbourne, Fla

The TV in the lobby was ALWAYS tuned to Fox News. Every work trip, the same nonsense. Imagine my surprise when I saw it was tuned to CNN this month. I think elections have consequences.

[calimary]

10. Welcome to DU, Mr. Sinister!

Good report! Glad you're here! Next time you're there, assuming the TV is still switched to CNN, why not go to the manager and thank him or her for making the change! We should be rewarding good behavior as well as complaining about bad behavior.

[kimbutgar]

35. I always stay at a La Quinta in Southern California and the breakfast room always had FOX on it

I complained to the manager and he just shrugged it off and then I over heard him being rude to a patron who had difficulty speaking English. The next time I went to Southern California I stayed at a different place and they had CNN on in the breakfast room. I'll be staying there instead from now on.

[calimary]

38. You should let the management at that La Quinta know.

Hey, I sure won't stay there if ever I'm out that way.

[nightscanner59]

46. http://www.turnofffox.org/tools/report/

Utilize above link to report FOX news public brainwashing stations. http://www.turnofffox.org/tools/report/

[Mr. Sinister]

43. Oh thanks!

I've been here since early 2000s I just don't post much (or ever). DU is a great source of news and insight but posting can get... sticky.

[PFunk]

13. This could save CNN ...

... as many would switch over to this as a Fox replacement (as it's looking like Fox-light).

[madrchsod]

4. this means one thing...

msnbc can raise their ad rates and fox will have to lower theirs.

remember....it is all about selling soap.

[AsahinaKimi]

5. I am glad Fox is losing ratings

Be happier if it sunk like stone in water. Glug glug! Can you imagine the ripples?

[calimary]

11. You mean it could shrink down so small we could drown it in the bathtub?

Now THAT would be some sweet justice!!!

[AsahinaKimi]

14. Bathtub?

You are thinking too big! A mop bucket or toilet would be better.

[calimary]

18. How 'bout a teaspoon? In honor of the teabaggers! Or maybe a thimble.

I find I'm in agreement with those who shouted "YEAH!" last year at one of the republi-CON primary debates, wherein the moderator asked - after a fairly cold-hearted bean-counter answer from one of them up on stage - "what should we do? Just let 'em die?"

I would be VERY delighted to see the whole republi-CON party die. ESPECIALLY in the states, where, unfortunately, they have wangled their way into majority power-holders.

[AsahinaKimi]

19. AT the rate they are going

They will probably kill off their own party.

[hedda_foil]

24. A teaspoon might be a tad too small for all those old coots and codgers...

I'm thinking maybe a teacup might be a better fit.

[demwing]

27. or just a tea bag?

In any case, I prefer coffee

[calimary]

37. Hey, whatever works!

I hate it that I've come to this - 'cause I try to be at least somewhat conciliatory. But I'm sorry - these folks have just fucked EVERYTHING up that they touch. They're DIRECTLY responsible for the meaner, angrier, nastier complexion of our country. THEIRS is the hate radio poison that limbaugh and Pox Noise and all the rest of those vermin appeal to, and gain strength and power and influence from. THEIRS is the side that clings to those "Second Amendment Remedies" - brought up originally by one of THEM (sharron angle, hello!). It's THEM.

http://www.alternet.org/tea-party-and-right/new-west-point-study-highlights-threat-posed-far-right-wing-groups-us

What does our side do? At worst? Well, consider: the "Extremists" on our side do things like chain themselves to trees. Throw paint on somebody's mink coat. Go on a hunger strike. Stage a sit-in or a tent city or an Occupy. Seems as though their side is much more likely to grab some hideous assault weapon and go on a rampage. How many so-called "lefties" have been behind the trigger at these horrible massacres? How many gun nuts are on our side? How many on our side think you need to mow down a bunch of innocents to make a point? How many obsessive-compulsive paranoiacs with untreated anger issues are there on the left, anyway?

Even if there ARE some, it strikes me from a lot of longtime observation that the wackos on our side are VASTLY outnumbered (AND CERTAINLY outgunned) by the wackos on the so-called "right."

The tendency that I have observed again and again among the left is NOT the attitude of shooting first and asking questions later. Our side seems to go for the talking and questioning and analyzing first, and maybe getting physical sometime down the line - MAYBE.
However, the tendency that I've observed many times over the years is ABSOLUTELY an attitude of shooting first and asking questions later.

Mind you, I am not a professional sociologist or psychologist here. All I know is what I've observed over many years. And these tendencies are what I've observed over many years.

[muntrv]

6. Unfortunately, ClusterFox doesn't care. They only care about parroting reich wing talking points.

[Liberalynn]

7. In related news KoolAid stock is hurting

Looks like people aren't drinking as much of it these days.

No offense to the makers of KoolAid.

[healthnut7]

8. Awwwww

Couldn't happen to a network that deserves it more....... Maybe people
are wising up on all the lies they tell!!

[calimary]

12. Welcome to DU, healthnut7!

Good to have you with us! As a retired journalist, I am personally insulted every moment that Pox Noise remains on the air. Their perversion of the craft of true impartial news coverage just GRATES!!!!

[Zorra]

9. Bumper sticker on my motorhome: Are You Still Hearing Crazy Voices?

Turn Off Fox News!

[Mister Ed]

15. I think some of their viewers realized they'd been flat-out lied to about the 2012 elections. n/t

[southern_belle]

17. ...

[anokaflash]

20. In cable ratings for the week ended Jan. 27:

Last weeks Cable numbers:

http://www.medialifemagazine.com/media-by-the-numbers/this-weeks-cable-ratings/

Top five cable news networks in primetime (25-54): CNN, MSNBC, Fox News Channel, HLN, CNBC.

Top five cable news programs (total viewers): 1. CNN’s “Presidential Inauguration” (Monday, 9 p.m.); 2. . CNN’s “Presidential Inauguration” (Monday, 8 p.m.); 3. CNN’s “Situation Room” (Monday, 5 p.m.); 4. Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor” (Wednesday, 8 p.m.); 5. . CNN’s “Presidential Inauguration” (Monday, 12 p.m.)

[nolabear]

21. Oh good. Maybe someday dinosaurs and humans won't live on Earth at the same time.

The existence of Fox is the best indicator that they do now that I know.

[onehandle]

22. Old people are dying. nt

[demwing]

28. OMG why?

Has anyone reported this to the authorities? Old people dying off, and I'll bet no one is doing a damned thing...stop death now !

Wait..what?

Fox News? Republican base?

Never mind...

[NICO9000]

23. 25-54 demo?

What self-respecting 25-year-old is watching even one second of Faux?

[SWTORFanatic]

30. Well, I'm not 25 anymore but pretty close (32) I watched Fox the night Obama won

[AllyCat]

32. And was it sad? I heard they were acting astonished that he'd won.

But I try not to go there if I can help it.

[SWTORFanatic]

33. Yep, Rove was hilarious

[Crowman1979]

25. It's kind of hard to maintain an audience when your scaring them into an early grave.

[Bluenorthwest]

26. I highly recommend to anyone who likes seeing this story that they dig into the numbers behind

the words in the article. Most people when thinking of TV ratings think of a mass audience scenario and thus 'number one in cable news' sounds as if the viewership must be huge...the article says 'everything is relative in cable news' and it is correct about that. Few Americans watch cable news at all relative to broadcast news, relative to cartoon reruns, relative to anything else on TV. Bill O' Reilly is their top draw and his peak is just over 3 million people watching. NBC Nightly News with Williams, Dec 2012 numbers average 9.133 million viewers, ABC "World News’" 7.944 million, CBS "Evening News’” 6.951 million. So over 24 million Americans watch the network newcasts, about 1.6 watch Shep Smith on Fox, 3 watch Billo. 11.5 million watched 'The Big Bang Theory' last week, for some non news perspective. Same hour another 15 million watched Idol.
The actual 'number one basic cable channel' is TBS, by a large margin.

Interesting that many will say 'no one watches network news anymore' and 'America gets it's news from Fox' when clearly those things are not and have never been true.

[mac56]

29. this

[AllyCat]

31. As entertainment goes, it's not very entertaining.

[Beacool]

34. They deserve it.

Although, they all stink. What happened to getting objective news? FOX tilts to the right, MSNBC tilts to the left, CNN is like weather vane (all over the place).

I prefer to watch foreign news like the BBC and several other international news outlets (it helps to speak more than one language).

[wisechoice]

36. Amazing that they survived so many years

Last edited Wed Jan 30, 2013, 05:00 PM - Edit history (1)

When I started watching news, I used to get glued to FOX. Within a year I realized that they were not news channel. I thought if I could figure it out most of them would have figured it out by now. America's no 1 problem is FOX. They corrupted CNN and all other news channel turning news into entertainment and shouting match.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

39. K&R nt

[Kingofalldems]

40. K and R for the Cave people

[Dawson Leery]

41. K/R

Maybe the kooks have moved over to Alex Jones?

[TXDem1984]

42. This makes me hopeful....

Trying not to read too much into this since, as previously stated, in cable ratings all is relative. I do think however, that if this trend continues it must be taken as a sign that the GOP's propaganda machine, that has been so very successful at dangerously misinforming so many conservatives is losing at least some of its power

Sadly however, this may very well also mean that Fox News and Conservative talk pundits will ratchet up the crazy to new, un before seen levels.

I dont know if you guys living in blue states fully grasp the epidemic that is Fox News. If you would indulge me and keep reading i will show you just a quick example to express this point.

A good friend of mine text me just the other day and said that he'd been reading Glenn Beck's newest book, "Agenda 21." He said, "you don't even realize what you're supporting, don't come crying to me when the change you voted for isn't what you thought it would be."

To which I replied, "is this like when you told me back in September that you hoped I enjoyed my 1 term President?" He did not reply. He never does. The second I negate something he heard from Fox News he shuts down. I believe this is what most of them do because, how else can one explain their complete disregard for facts and the truth and their unrelenting refusal to be reasoned with.

In closing Fox News and those other wack jobs like Beck have created an alternate reality for extreme conservatives in which they truly believe their way of life is under attack by a tyranical Muslim from Kenya who is hell bent on implementing his socialistic agenda. And that's my intelligent friends.

So yes, if Fox's rating are declining, it is definitely cause for celebration.

[libodem]

44. Why

Because they LIE. (Taking the place of fair and balanced)

[Kablooie]

45. Maybe they'll try broadcasting in Spanish to increase their market share.