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Home Front: Culture Wars
CNN Sinks To 21-Year Primetime Ratings Low
2012-06-27
Coming off its least-watched month in primetime in 20 years in May, CNN has taken another big ratings blow: The cable news network has registered to its lowest-rated quarter in primetime since 1991. For this year's second quarter, CNN hit a low among total viewers and the key adults 25-54 demographic, with all primetime programs posting steep declines. The network averaged 446,000 total viewers and 129,000 in the 25-54 demo in primetime. Compared to last year's second quarter, that's down 35% and 41%, respectively. Rival Fox New Channel, meanwhile, with 1.79 million primetime total viewers on average, was down 1% from its 2011 second-quarter numbers. FNC lost 14% in the 25-54, bringing in 355,000 viewers. MSNBC was down 13% in total primetime viewers, with 689,000 on average, and down 17% in the 25-54 with 217,000. The quarter ran March 26-June 22.
Posted by:Fred

#16  #WINNING!
Posted by: mojo   2012-06-27 21:06  

#15  IIRC the demographics indicate the the network viewers are literally dying off, very high on the older age bracket. Consider the unintended effect of Death Panels Obamacare on those Big Three.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2012-06-27 20:10  

#14  Network news shows combined beats Fox News by a 10-to-1 margin, so this is kind of moot.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2012-06-27 19:08  

#13  You mean lowest ratings "so far".

Keep up the bullshit and we'll continue not watching.
Posted by: Andy Claique6507   2012-06-27 15:17  

#12  #4 I know some CNN employees. They think they are doing poorly because they are not biased.

The only way they could come to that conclusion would be if even they are not watching CNN.
Posted by: Snaing Peacock2931   2012-06-27 15:01  

#11  Last I was in an airport, I was surprised by the number of not CNN channels on. Its like if half the dentist offices cancelled their Newspeak subscriptions they would go out of business too.

Bourdain. I find him to be a prissy know-it-all who seeths disdain for American culture yet not brave enough to become an ex-pat. He is at his best when in mooselimb countries making jokes about getting smashed at the local wedding. To his credit, he has made a fine career for himself, is witty, and his attitude works well for what No Reservations is.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2012-06-27 13:22  

#10  Maybe if the news/opinion people were forced to fight to the death in the area I'd watch.

And you have to play the Captain Kirk fight music during the matches.

Yeah, I'd PAY to watch that.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Schlumberger Squishy Mud Division   2012-06-27 13:00  

#9  Pappy, you need an iPod. You can put whatever you want on it and use it to drown out annoying noises in public places such as people chewing gum, babies crying or Piers Morgan.

Er, dunno because I never watch it myself but I'm told CNN has attempted to be less biased and that's the reason for the decline...not as rabidly leftist as MSLSD nor as rabidly right wing as FOX. What? You mean a non-biased outlet cannot survive? But, like I said, I never watch any of them. FOX, MSNBC, CNN...they're all BORING, superficial and shallow. When CNN first started the first thing I noticed was that after about half an hour they would start to repeat themselves. If you watched one half hour of it you saw just about all the content they had for an entire news cycle. It was like watching Dan Rather and the CBS Evening News over and over and over...all day long. I was hoping for a little more depth. My solution was to turn it off.

Gimme Anthony Bourdain. So now, CNN has stolen him from the Travel Channel and done just that.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2012-06-27 12:07  

#8  Something you're stuck with hearing while waiting for a flight.
Posted by: Pappy   2012-06-27 10:51  

#7  What is CNN?
Posted by: newc   2012-06-27 10:45  

#6  He did one thing right Besoker, he went to the Varsity
Posted by: Beavis   2012-06-27 09:10  

#5  The Obama-Messiah was in Atlanta yesterday. Things should be improving for CNN shortly.
Posted by: Besoeker   2012-06-27 08:56  

#4  I know some CNN employees. They think they are doing poorly because they are not biased.
Posted by: lord garth   2012-06-27 07:53  

#3  To answer your question Mike,

Why does a bear sh*t in the woods?

Because that's what they do!
Posted by: CrazyFool   2012-06-27 00:37  

#2  Why doesn't CNN just start reporting the news honestly without slant or bias?
Their ratings would improve overnight.
But nooooooo! Ideology must come first.
Posted by: Mikey Hunt   2012-06-27 00:35  

#1  Yokay, I'll bite, who's the walking clusterfuck(s?) oer in Marketing Research - methink the true CNN "as is" demographic are actually those Older Males Age 40/45-54.

Males + Young People Age 25-39 or younger are all on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, IPAD + NOTEPAD, ETC. NET; Age 17-24 prolly don't even watch regular TV until the post-dinner evening hours, or the time just before they're ready to go to sleep.

That leaves Women or Young Females for most of the daytime + late afternoon, + IIRC the Babes didn't watch CNN that much anyhoo even at the height of its 1980's-1990's popularity. AFAIK Babes don't watch daily news as much as Men, let alone 24-7-365.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2012-06-27 00:30  

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