Rick Kaplan takes over MSNBC at a time when all news channels are finding it hard to match year-ago ratings performances. It seems the Democrats’ march to the presidential nomination has been of less interest than last year’s loss of seven astronauts and the nation’s march to war.
So even the potent Fox News Channel, which averaged almost double the audience of nearest rival CNN the week of Feb. 9 to 15, was posting double-digit year-to-year viewership losses, according to data released last week by Nielsen Media Research. For the week, Fox News was down 24 percent in total day (averaging 802,000 viewers) and in prime time (1.3 million).
CNN was off 36 percent for total day (443,000 viewers) and 40 percent in prime time (715,000). MSNBC was off 19 percent for total day (232,000) and 28 percent in prime time (312,000).
Averages for Dec. 29, 2003, through Feb. 8 show less dramatic decreases. Fox News’ total viewership over the first six weeks of the year was down 2 percent for total day and 6 percent in prime time. CNN was down 25 percent for total day and 22 percent in prime time. MSNBC was down 17 percent for total day and 12 percent in prime time.
Among 25- to 54-year-old viewers, the core news demographic group, there were double-digit decreases across the board year-to-date as well. Fox was down 12 percent for total day and 12 percent in prime time. CNN was down 23 percent for total day and 23 percent in prime time. MSNBC was down 17 percent for total day and 11 percent in prime.
In the same period, the biggest night for Fox was Jan. 20, when President Bush delivered his State of the Union address (3.9 million viewers, 1.26 million in the demo). The speech also gave CNN its biggest night so far this year (1.59 million viewers, 664,000 in the demo).
For MSNBC, the biggest prime-time telecast in total viewers was the Jan. 29 Democratic debate in South Carolina (725,000 viewers). MSNBC’s biggest night in the 25 to 54 demo was Jan. 1 (378,000).