New ratings: CNN's "Sit Room" beats Fox at 4; Olbermann viewers, total and "demo," climb at 8

Broadcasting&Cable: Cable News Ratings: Fox News, CNN Both Down Year-to-Year in Q3
23 Consecutive Quarters On Top for Fox News Channel
By Marisa Guthrie -- Broadcasting & Cable, 10/2/2007 4:05:00 PM

Fox News Channel and CNN lost ground in the third quarter of 2007 compared with the same period a year ago.

In total viewers CNN was down 9% (501,000 versus 549,000) and Fox News was down 10% (805,000 compared with 896,000). In primetime, CNN was down 6% (901,000 compared with 960,000) and Fox News was also down 6% in total viewers (1.601 million versus 1.711 million). Fox has still spent 23 consecutive quarters as the top-rated news network.

CNN had some good news for the month of September for the 4 p.m. hour with a win in the 25-54 demo for The Situation Room over Fox News’ Your World with Neil Cavuto (206,000 viewers versus 189,000). But it seems that at least some of CNN’s 8 p.m. audience may have migrated to MSNBC.

At 8 p.m., MSNBC’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann is up 73% in viewers and 56% in the demo while CNN has dropped 11% in total viewers (649,000 versus 728,000) compared with the third quarter of 2006. Time-slot leader The O’Reilly Factor was up 1% in total viewers with 2.1 million, easily winning the 8 p.m. hour.

But more interestingly, since Paula Zahn vacated her 8 p.m. time slot this summer, CNN has lost 3% of the cable news pie at 8 p.m. while MSNBC has gained 5%.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6486263.html

The Situation Room is so much better than the crap FOX has on. I'm also glad to see Keith moving up.

I am always amazed at how small cable TV really is. Its a gang of feral dogs fighting over an old,dry bone.

Cable news is actually bigger than what the ratings report. Why? Nielsen only measures what is being watched inside the home. Cable news does pretty well in airports, bars, lobbies, hotel rooms, etc.

However, you are correct in that their overall audience and impact is quite small.