Free Republic

Radio's Rush Limbaugh is not only good for his own business -- with a new eight-year contract offering him the potential to make $400 million -- he's also good for Fox News. Limbaugh's appearance on "Fox News Sunday" set a ratings record for the year so far for the network's Sunday morning counterpunch to "Meet the Press" and the rest. Limbaugh drew 3,892,000 viewers, including 1,180,000 in the coveted 25-54 age group, for the show on the Fox broadcast network and cable's Fox News Channel (2.35 million tuned in at FNC.) "I'm a ... guy who earns a percentage of...

Highlighting even further the ratings erosion at CNN in prime time, the “Most Trusted Name in News” finished in fourth place among cable news outlets during election coverage last night. Fox News was #1 by a mile, followed by MSNBC, then CNN sister network HLN and CNN in 4th place. They were fourth in both total viewers and the A25-54 demographic. CNN’s 4th place finish last night was only made more glaring because last year’s election coverage on the network was their best night of all time. They didn’t just have more viewers than every other cable news network last...

Election Night ratings charts from mediabistro and TVbythenumbers

We’ve had lots of cable news charts on the site recently showing dramatic declines for both individual cable news show and cable news network ratings as a whole compared to their October 2008 election period. Many have asked about a comparison of Fox’s results with those of CNN and MSNBC, and reader MikeS has come through again, compiling the charts below showing the relative audience for each network compared to its October 2008 average for both adults 25-54 and average viewers. It’s pretty clear that the election year ratings hangover being suffered by both CNN and MSNBC initially struck Fox...

Before Glenn Beck started his new show on Fox News in January, he sat down with Roger Ailes, the network's chief executive, to make sure they were on the same page. "I wanted to meet with Roger and tell him, 'You may not want to put me on the air. I believe we are in dire trouble, and I will never shut up,' " said the conservative radio host. But before Beck could say anything, Ailes shared a message of his own: The country faced tough times, he said, and Fox News was one of the only news outlets willing...

It’s a nine-percent bump in the two weeks since Anita Dunn’s whine heard ’round the world — in terms of overall audience. Among the coveted 25-54 demographic? A 14-percent bump. Good work, Barry. People keep telling me that this PR offensive by the White House benefits both sides but I don’t see how that’s true. If the goal is to contain Fox by framing the stories it breaks — Van Jones, ACORN, etc — as somehow illegitimate, then every tenth of a point that Fox’s ratings go up undermines that goal. There will come a point where other news nets...

It’s a nine-percent bump in the two weeks since Anita Dunn’s whine heard ’round the world — in terms of overall audience. Among the coveted 25-54 demographic? A 14-percent bump. Good work, Barry. People keep telling me that this PR offensive by the White House benefits both sides but I don’t see how that’s true. If the goal is to contain Fox by framing the stories it breaks — Van Jones, ACORN, etc — as somehow illegitimate, then every tenth of a point that Fox’s ratings go up undermines that goal. There will come a point where other news nets...

CNN’s numbers drop 68% in prime to last place I have been reporting CNN’s bad numbers for some time and now it will be official when the October numbers are in, CNN is in last place behind MSNBC, HLN and you know who.CNN’s numbers have dropped in half overall (52%) and 68% in prime time comparing October 2008 to 2009, TV by the Numbers reported.In the 25-54 demographic, CNN dropped 62% overall and by 77% in prime time.Even the mainstream press is now reporting it. “The official monthly numbers will be finalized at 4 p.m. Monday and will include results...

Last May, I wrote on CNN's ratings troubles in prime-time, after being topped by MSNBC during the hours of 8pm to 11pm. But for the month of October, CNN was beaten by not only MSNBC in the 25-54 demo, but also its sister network, HLN. Fox News remains the dominant cable news network, and will easily hold onto the number 1 spot. The Times Bill Carter reports on the latest numbers, which will be finalized this afternoon. While CNN has lost before to MSNBC and HLN, there are some notable firsts in how poorly some of the network's shows are...

25-54 demographic: Beck 681 O'Reilly 583....Total Viewers: Beck 2620 O'Reilly 2490

The last ratings cycle Monday night, Beck withing less than 200k of O'Reilly and that's at a 5:00p.m. timeslot, MSNBC also continues to lose viewers...

Fox News’ 3amET comedy/news hybrid Red Eye is in a league of its own when it comes to cable news shows. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a player in the ratings. Despite its late (or early, depending on your sleep habits) start time, the ratings for the show continue to improve, and surprisingly, top some cable news competition you might not expect. Last week we were forwarded this message board post on ActivityPit.com – Red Eye’s online community that feeds its dedicated base of fans. Here’s a part: The ratings came out for September and Red Eye is up...

Fox News’ 3amET comedy/news hybrid Red Eye is in a league of its own when it comes to cable news shows. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a player in the ratings. Despite its late (or early, depending on your sleep habits) start time, the ratings for the show continue to improve, and surprisingly, top some cable news competition you might not expect. Last week we were forwarded this message board post on ActivityPit.com – Red Eye’s online community that feeds its dedicated base of fans. Here’s a part: The ratings came out for September and Red Eye is up...

Those with any doubt what a good move it was for Fox News to pick up Glenn Beck look no further than the chart below. His average viewership at 5pm exceeded the combined viewership of his three cable news network competitors every night in September. On six nights he had twice the combined viewership.

Unlike other cable news networks, that have seen their ratings fall since the 2008 Presidential election peak, Fox News 5-11pm viewership (P2+) has trended higher since early summer 2009 and is now near the peak levels set around the election in 2008.

Q3, 2009 vs. 2008, Glenn Beck grows timeslot 89% in total viewers and 136% in the Demo, also Foxnews is widening it's lead over MS-DNC..

Just how far has NBC fallen? The Jay Leno show scored roughly one-third the audience of ABC's or CBS's, but trails even Fox News. Not just Fox, which permits its affiliates to broadcast local programming during the 10 o'clock hour, but Fox News Channel. ABC: Grey's Anatomy (16.5 million) CBS: The Mentalist (14.3 million) Fox News: The O'Reilly Report (5.2 million*) NBC: The Jay Leno Show (5 million) *includes two airings, because Fox News Channel broadcasts simultaneously in all time zones. Now, if Fox News would only put Glenn Beck in Prime Time...

The Scoreboard: Monday, September 21

P2+ Total Day FNC – 1,586,000 viewers CNN – 590,000 viewers MSNBC –454,000 viewers CNBC – 197,000 viewers HLN – 374,000 viewers P2+ Prime Time FNC – 3,238,000viewers CNN— 1,054,000 viewers MSNBC –1,123,000 viewers CNBC – 259,000 viewers HLN – 813,000viewers

Crushing the competition...Fox News had a huge ratings night Wednesday averaging 3.29M Total Viewers and 1.01M in the A25-54 demo in prime (8-11pmET Live +SD).

Numbers released for Monday night.., plus Foxnews #3 on all of cable (that's everything) CNN #26, MS-DNC #21

The 1pmET hour of Glenn Beck's 9/12 special drew 2.34M Total Viewers and 608K in A25-54 demo -- up a whopping 144% in Total Viewers and up 161% in demo viewers from the previous Saturday. The 2pmET hour built on the 1pm hour averaging 2.57M Total Viewers (up 189%) and 708K A25-54 viewers (up 226%). Beck's two hours more than doubled the combined averages, in the demo and Total Viewers, of CNN (201K in demo, 678K Total) and MSNBC (125K in demo, 343K Total) from 1-3pmET Saturday. CNN aired Pres. Obama's speech from Minneapolis from 2:00 to 2:40pmET. MSNBC aired...

Nothing like a boycott to really hurt ratings. Glenn Beck had his highest viewership ever Thursday averaging 3.34M Total Viewers. His was the second-highest rated program in Total Viewers in cable news behind The O'Reilly Factor's 3.61M. And Beck was even bigger with the ad-friendly demo, putting up his second best numbers since the show premiered in January. In A25-54 viewers, Beck was #1 for the day, and remember, his show airs at 5pmET/2pmPT when viewers aren't in front of their TVs like they are at 8, 9 or 10pm. Although, last night many of those primetime viewers were siphoned...

Cable ratings + Network ratings for Obama's partisan speech on Health Care last night...

Friday’s cable TV news ratings are out. The No. 1 show was Glenn Beck — at 5 pm. Hahahahahahahaha. Once again, the moronic attempt to boycott a network TV show has backfired. Big time. Not only that but the White House operative who arranged that leaning on advertisers — Van Jones — is out of his job.

Kennedy Coverage Not Made for Prime Time Rash Report: Two Perspectives Join Cable Saturation by John Rash Published: August 27, 2009 MINNEAPOLIS (AdAge.com) -- Political pundits on both sides of the aisle (and the radio dial) lauded the legislative accomplishments of Sen. Edward Kennedy, with some, including conservative columnist George F. Will, calling him "the most consequential" Kennedy. CBS 'Ted Kennedy: The Last Brother' With the news breaking after most went to bed Tuesday night, morning news shows were the first source for many to learn of Mr. Kennedy's death, and cable news networks went wall-to-wall with coverage. And perhaps...

Although Glenn Beck's hit Fox News show doesn't even air during prime time, he is generating huge prime-time-like numbers at 5 p.m. TVbytheNumbers.com reports that, despite a liberal group's "boycott" of "The Glenn Beck Program," Beck is striking "pure ratings gold."

Thursday night, "Glenn Beck" again won the A25-54 demographic on the TVNewser scoreboard for with 762K. The show also had the second highest number of Total Viewers with 2.544M, trailing only last night's "O'Reilly Factor" (2.896M Total Viewers). Strong numbers for a show that's on at 5pm on the east coast.

Though a little scandal might alienate advertisers, it’s pure ratings gold. Last night Glenn Beck had over 3 million viewers at 5pm, second only to O’Reilly for the night. But, Beck had more 25-54 viewers than O’Reilly (888K to 876K). I don’t watch or really even care about the cable news wars, but still…wow. Even though Beck airs before primetime, when there are fewer people watching TV, he had the most 25-54 viewers in the cable news world for the night. Live + Same Day Cable News Daily Ratings for August 26, 2009

Fox News maintained its top ranking among the cable news channels Wednesday as its competitors turned most of their coverage over to the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy. The event didn't prove to be a major draw for viewers, however. Fox, which covered the story in a more limited fashion, drew an average of 1.37 million viewers throughout the entire day and 2.67 million viewers during prime time, according to Nielsen Media Research. CNN, which usually dominates during major breaking news events, averaged 711,000 viewers overall and 1.19 million viewers in prime time. MSNBC pulled in 506,000 viewers throughout the...

Beck's 3 million viewers on Wednesday, after Governor Palin's Facebook note, is a significant increase from the 2.6 million viewers that he got on Tuesday, before Governor Palin's Facebook note.

Viewers didn't get the memo about the boycott.....Cable news ratings just came out in the last hour from mediabistro, Beck beats O'Reilly in key demo...2 Charts

for Wednesday's show w/Rush

Glenn Beck was back, and with a vengeance! Please forgive me that I’m not a big follower of cable news, and don’t really personally care that much. Besides, this is a ratings site, and my opinions don’t matter, nor does what I think about Beck’s comments, or the issue of advertisers bailing out. The thing about numbers though, is that they’re not opinion, they are just numbers. And the numbers say at 5pm Beck drew a bigger audience than any show on any network last night other than O’Reilly, and Hannity even among adults 25-54. At 5pm, Beck beat all...

CABLE NEWS RACE MONDAY, AUG. 24, 2009 CNN KING 1,063,000 MSNBC MADDOW 885,000 CNN COOPER 827,000 MSNBC HARDBALL 640,000

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,440,000 FOXNEWS HANNITY 2,937,000 FOXNEWS BECK 2,810,000 FOXNEWS GRETA 2,450,000 FOXNEWS BAIER 2,066,000 FOXNEWS SHEP 1,860,000 MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,114,000 CNN KING 1,063,000 MSNBC MADDOW 885,000 CNN COOPER 827,000 MSNBC HARDBALL 640,000

South Carolina Republican Bob Inglis, frustrated by a restive crowd at a recent forum to discuss health care, suggested people turn off the TV when Fox News Channel’s Glenn Beck came on. Big mistake. Boos and catcalls escalated. Beck is a hero to many people who are not buying the Age of Obama, and so is Fox. The network was already on pace for its best ratings year even before the health care debate sent viewership jumping. --snip-- Fox’s viewership is up 11 percent over last year, according to Nielsen Media Research. CNN and MSNBC, which benefited from interest in...

The Scoreboard: Thursday, August 20

You might see another "Fox News explodes" moment from Bill O'Reilly tonight. For the second time this week and fourth time this year, FNC beat the combined totals of the four other news channels in primetime in both Total Viewers and the A25-54 demo. "The O'Reilly Factor" had its biggest audience of the year in younger viewers last night drawing 1.08M, up 37% over his quarter-to-date average of 787K. Earlier today we reported on the big numbers being put up by Sean Hannity this week. And not to be outdone, Greta Van Susteren at 10pmET drew more A25-54 viewers (790K)...

Here is video of Bill O'Reilly tonight talking about the absolute dominance of Fox News over its three cable competitors - CNN, MSNBC, CNN Headline News. The numbers from last week were amazing for Fox News, and for The O'Reilly Factor in particular. In the 8 pm edt time slot, O'Reilly beat CNN by 380%, MSNBC by 247%, and Headline News by 299%. The O'Reilly Factor now has a larger audience than the CBS Evening News, 5.4 million to 5.368 million viewers. . . . . . (Watch Video)

Live + Same Day Cable News Daily Ratings for August 04, 2009P2+ Total DayFNC – 1,331,000 viewersCNN – 603,000 viewersMSNBC –403,000 viewersCNBC – 185,000 viewersHLN – 294,000 viewersP2+ Prime TimeFNC – 2,850,000viewersCNN— 999,000 viewersMSNBC –1,007,000 viewersCNBC – 181,000 viewersHLN – 548,000viewers25-54 Total DayFNC –344,000 viewersCNN –184,000 viewersMSNBC –122,000 viewersCNBC – a scratch w/ 52,000 viewersHLN- 117,000 viewers25-54 Prime TimeFNC – 735,000 viewersCNN – 284,000 viewersMSNBC –319,000 viewersCNBC – 62,000 viewersHLN – 207,000 viewers35-64 Total DayFNC – 631,000 viewersCNN – 288,000 viewersMSNBC – 201,000 viewersCNBC – 91,000 viewersHLN – 152,000 viewers35-64 Prime TimeFNC –1,323,000 viewersCNN – 445,000 viewersMSNBC –477,000 viewersCNBC –97,000...

You'd think MSNBC and CNN would change some of the lineup and the venom they spew everyday at Rush, Palin, Talkradio, Tea parties and anything else in the conservative momement, but they don't and the audience is punishing them with these new numbers...

While July has been another banner month for the Fox News Channel, the good folks at MSNBC might want to rethink their current lineup. In the all important demographic group aged 25 to 54, FNC was up 48 percent in total daily viewers, and an astounding 70 percent in prime time compared to July 2008. By contrast, MSNBC's take of this demo was unchanged in prime time and down seven percent in total daily viewers. The liberal network's top personality Keith Olbermann saw his July demo numbers decline to their lowest level since December 2007.

Rush brings in audience on T.V. and on radio, people want to hear what he has to say, and he's been on fire in the Greta interviews....

Live + Same Day Cable News Daily Ratings for July 16, 2009P2+ Total DayFNC – 1,292,000 viewersCNN – 592,000 viewersMSNBC –421,000 viewersCNBC – 210,000 viewersHLN – 334,000 viewers Morning programs (6:00AM-9:00AM) P2+ (25-54) (35-64)FOX & Friends- 905,000 viewers (245,000) (506,000)American Morning-373,000 viewers (132,000) (244,000)Morning Joe-356,000 viewers (128,000) (229,000)Squawk Box-181,000 viewers (76,000) (93,000)Morning Express w/ Meade- 241,000 viewers (141,000) (181,000)5PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64)Glenn Beck– 1,884,000 viewers (415,000) (768,000)Situation Room—779,000 viewers (133,000) (319,000)Hardball w/ Chris Matthews—604,000 viewers (103,000) (252,000)Fast Money—270,000 viewers (106,000) (134,000)Prime News–206,000 viewers (81,000) (105,000)6PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64)Special Report with Bret Baier– 1,737,000 viewers (344,000) (720,000)Situation Room—634,000 viewers...

The death of Michael Jackson has been an economic stimulus for cable news networks feeling the decline of Obama-mania in a post-election year. Everyone from Nancy Grace to Geraldo to Larry King to Keith Olbermann has jumped into a wall-to-wall, flood-the-zone media strategy since the international pop star died on Thursday, June 25. But for news networks CNN and MSNBC, it has been a temporary help that hasn't altered the basic landscape, where Fox News still reigns supreme. All three of the main players -- Fox News Channel, CNN and MSNBC -- bested by far their viewership average with their...

CNN, the network that invented 24-hour news, for the first time in its history has finished in third place in weeknight prime-time cable news ratings. The Atlanta-based channel was surpassed by MSNBC in Monday-Friday prime-time ratings during the most recent quarter, according to the TV ratings service Nielsen, and it continued to lose ground in the 8-11 p.m. slot to No. 1 Fox News Channel.

As MSNBC and CNN battle for second place, second-quarter Nielsen numbers show the network's programs now rank one through 10 in total viewers on cable news. Since Obama came into office, Fox has continued not only winning, but doing so at unprecedented levels. As the Hollywood Reporter noted last week, the network is having its "best year yet," with the competition in the ratings, shifting from not only the news networks but all of basic cable. Indeed, Fox came in 3rd this quarter, behind only USA and TNT. Across the board, already top-rated shows are up by percentages in the...

Fox News Channel continued its ratings dominance in the just concluded second quarter. Compared to Q2 '08 FNC is up an astonishing 33% among Total Viewers and up 44% in the A25-54 demo in Total Day (Monday-Sunday). In primetime (Monday-Friday) the numbers are even more impressive: up 35% in Total Viewers and up 54% in younger viewers. FNC is on-track to have the highest rated year in the network's 13 year history. In primetime, Fox News has more Total Viewers and younger viewers than MSNBC and CNN combined. Fox News occupies the Top 10 spots on cable news among Total...

FOX NEWS RECORDS UNPRECEDENTED TOP 10 OUT OF 10 PROGRAMS IN CABLE NEWS FOR 2ND QUARTER... ON PACE TO BE NETWORK'S BEST YEAR EVER... THE O'REILLY FACTOR 3,191,000 HANNITY 2,345,000 GLENN BECK 2,053,000 ON THE RECORD W/GRETA 1,950,000 SPECIAL REPORT W/BRET BAIER 1,889,000 FOX REPORT/SHEP SMITH 1,783,000 THE O'REILLY FACTOR (RPT) 1,579,000 AMERICA'S NEWSROOM BILL HEMMER & MEGYN KELLY 1,399,000 YOUR WORLD W/NEIL CAVUTO 1,389,000 STUDIO B W/SHEP SMITH 1,169,000