How do CNN and MSNBC Survive?

[Cajuncowboy]

Especially with numbers like these? And these are the normal rankings typically...

CABLE NEWS RACE
TUES. NITE, JUNE 05 2012

FOXNEWS OREILLY 3,108,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 2,973,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,802,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,441,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 2,147,000
FOXNEWS FIVE 1,590,000
CMDY DAILY SHOW 1,516,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,256,000
CMDY COLBERT 1,226,000
MSNBC SCHULTZ 1,119,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 790,000
MSNBC SHARPTON 771,000
CNN COOPER 630,000
CNN MORGAN 591,000

[VTA]

Private funding.

[erdawiro]

It's interesting, for whatever reason, the website rankings for the major news organizations are drastically different than the cable rankings. In 2010, which is the most recent data I can find, both CNN.com and MSNBC.com had two times as many unique visitors as FoxNews.com. While Internet revenue certainly doesn't make up for the large gap in cable revenue, I would bet that it shrinks the overall profitability gap.

I don't have the data to do it, but it would be interesting to weight the value cable viewers and Internet viewers and come up with an adjusted audience total. I would expect Fox to still be in a sizable lead (being the only right leaning news organization, it doesn't compete for audience as much as the other two) but would imagine that the combined adjusted total for CNN/MSNBC would be similar to that of Fox.

[Cajuncowboy]

It's interesting, for whatever reason, the website rankings for the major news organizations are drastically different than the cable rankings. In 2010, which is the most recent data I can find, both CNN.com and MSNBC.com had two times as many unique visitors as FoxNews.com. While Internet revenue certainly doesn't make up for the large gap in cable revenue, I would bet that it shrinks the overall profitability gap.

I don't have the data to do it, but it would be interesting to weight the value cable viewers and Internet viewers and come up with an adjusted audience total. I would expect Fox to still be in a sizable lead (being the only right leaning news organization, it doesn't compete for audience as much as the other two) but would imagine that the combined adjusted total for CNN/MSNBC would be similar to that of Fox.

You don't think it has anything to do with the fact that it is more trusted huh? I mean come on, MSNBC and CNN got be by a COMEDY CHANNEL!

[JBond]

Yahoo is number one, whatever that means.

http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/news-websites

[erdawiro]

You don't think it has anything to do with the fact that it is more trusted huh? I mean come on, MSNBC and CNN got be by a COMEDY CHANNEL!

I'm sure trust is why Fox is so popular but it's an issue of ideology and fragmentation. Fox is only trusted by those who identify as being "somewhat conservative" or "very conservative" (which accounts for 44% of people polled). That group doesn't really trust any other news organization at all. In contrast, those who responded as having liberal leanings trusted a a much larger number of outlets.

But that wasn't really what I was responding to, I was just putting forward a possible explanation for how CNN and MSNBC can stay profitable despite having significantly lower ratings.

Edit: here's the polling I referred to

[erdawiro]

Yahoo is number one, whatever that means.

http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/news-websites

I'm surprised google news is so high, I think it's awful.

[Cajuncowboy]

I'm sure trust is why Fox is so popular but it's an issue of ideology and fragmentation. Fox is only trusted by those who identify as being "somewhat conservative" or "very conservative" (which accounts for 44% of people polled). That group doesn't really trust any other news organization at all. In contrast, those who responded as having liberal leanings trusted a a much larger number of outlets.

But that wasn't really what I was responding to, I was just putting forward a possible explanation for how CNN and MSNBC can stay profitable despite having significantly lower ratings.

Edit: here's the polling I referred to

You know why the the liberals trusted more outlets, because there are more liberal ones. Frankly, saying fox is conservative is a bit f a stretch considering they have Geraldo, Greta and Reilly aren't conservatives. Also, Shep Smith isn't conservative either. They are more balanced than the others easily. And I get a kick out of a poll that says they feel they trust PBS more than others since they are a government funded.

[erdawiro]

You know why the the liberals trusted more outlets, because there are more liberal ones. Frankly, saying fox is conservative is a bit f a stretch considering they have Geraldo, Greta and Reilly aren't conservatives. Also, Shep Smith isn't conservative either. They are more balanced than the others easily. And I get a kick out of a poll that says they feel they trust PBS more than others since they are a government funded.

On the bolded part: that's exactly what I'm saying, people trust the organizations that are aligned with their own views.

With that said, of course you think they're the most balanced and of course I think they aren't.

Shep Smith is great though, maybe the best anchor in news television.

[Cajuncowboy]

On the bolded part: that's exactly what I'm saying, people trust the organizations that are aligned with their own views.

With that said, of course you think they're the most balanced and of course I think they aren't.

Shep Smith is great though, maybe the best anchor in news television.

They have more liberal guests on Foxnews than MSNBC and CNN does combined. Why wouldn't you think they are more fair?