CNN is not the most popular news channel in the US.
As Fox News Channel prepares for its 10th anniversary in October, the onetime upstart is now the clear market leader, with ratings that are double Cable News Network's. May 2006 marked the 53rd straight month that Fox has topped CNN in the ratings.
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This year, a much slower news period, the declines have once again resumed. Average primetime audiences hit 2.85 million between December 26, 2005, and May 21, 2006, down from 2.93 million in the same period last year.
"The news networks have reached equilibrium where they can't expect the kind of audience growth they've seen in the past," said Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University. "They have to battle it out with each other for most of their viewers. That is why you are seeing each of them pursuing very distinct programming strategies" and formats that often have more to do with targeting specific audiences than reporting the news, he said.
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[link|http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6351625.html|Broadcasting Cable]:
World News Tonight, with Diane Sawyer subsituting for Charles Gibson, averaged 7.34 million viewers and a 2.1/9 in the demo. NBC's Nightly News With Brian Williams posted 7.22 million viewers and a 1.9/9. The CBS Evening News, with Harry Smith anchoring, averged 6.52 million viewers and a 1.7/8.
Due to the holiday, only Wednesday to Friday broadcasts last week were counted in the ratings for the week of July 3 to 7. News viewing is typically lighter in the summer. Even so, with new anchor Gibson, ABC has been gaining on its main competitor, Nightly News. For the last week in June, for example, ABC and NBC tied in the demo, although Nightly News attracted a larger audience. ABC has now been No. 1 or tied NBC in the demo for the last four weeks.
The over-the-air network news broadcasts each have at least twice the audience of the cable news primetime shows. CNN isn't the biggest cable channel, in terms of audience, any more.
FWIW.
What's your view of the [link|http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5174726.stm|BBC] and [link|http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2094671,00.html|DW] and [link|http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aE.5wN1ZnkpE&refer=worldwide_news|Bloomberg] coverage?
Cheers,
Scott.