CNN Falls Behind MSNBC in Annual Prime-Time Ratings (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

The New York Times ^ | December 16, 2009 | Bill Carter

[abb]

CNN will finish 2009 behind MSNBC in prime-time ratings, the first time CNN has ever trailed a competitor other than the Fox News Channel over a full calendar year.

That finish had been expected. In recent months, CNN, which continues to stand behind its policy of steering clear of the opinion-based shows that draw large prime-time audiences for its competitors, has also trailed its own sister network, HLN (formerly Headline News). CNN has frequently finished fourth in the news channel category.

CNN will finish the fourth quarter of 2009 in fourth place — another first — and with two weeks left has been fourth on more than 100 nights this year.

But the end-of-the-year ratings for the news networks — which were being presented this week because nothing is likely to change by Jan. 1 — are bringing some other, less expected, results. One is the ability of Fox News, which had the biggest ratings year in its history, to grow even against the heavily viewed election year of 2008. (Both CNN and MSNBC were down sharply from last year.)

Perhaps most surprising is the overall growth in viewing for all the news networks over the last several years. For example, even with its competitive problems in prime time, CNN has had more viewers on average this year than it did in 2006 or 2007. So has MSNBC. But they both have been left in the dust by Fox News.

Fox has averaged 699,000 viewers for the year, up 10 percent, in the weeknight prime-time hours. (All figures cited here are for viewers ages 25 to 54, the audience that determines success among news networks because that is the group sought by news advertisers.) MSNBC was second with 307,000 viewers, while CNN averaged 297,000.

[abb]

http://www.mediacurmudgeon.com/archives/2009/12/index.html#a000616
How to Save Journalism: Part I

[submarinerswife]

average of 386,000 viewers for Morning Joe and 1,179,000 for Fox and Friends

Wow. So, F&F number 1 above CNN and MSNBC