Widgetized Section
Go to Admin » Appearance » Widgets » and move Gabfire Widget: Social into that MastheadOverlay zone
July Ratings Show Younger Viewers Continue To Turn Off Fox News
In order to put the declines of FNC’s prime time crew into context consider that at MSNBC only Lawrence O’Donnell was down 9% in total viewers and 15% in the demo. (We can call this the Olbermann Effect, as it is getting obvious that the return of Countdown has taken some viewers away from The Last Word). While Fox News was suffering declines with Hannity and Greta, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show and The Ed Show both posted big gains in the demo. Maddow was up 24% from her 2010 numbers during the same time period, and Ed Schultz jumped 42% over the Countdown rerun that aired in his slot last year.
Fueled by Casey Anthony trial, CNN had a great month. Piers Morgan jumped 37% in the demo, and Anderson Cooper demo ratings were 56% higher they were in 2010. If CNN and MSNBC are growing in prime time, the excuse that it is summer doesn’t really fly. The question remains what the heck is going on at Fox News?
May was also an infamous ratings month for Fox News as CNN grew by 60%, MSNBC grew by 26%, but Fox News viewership fell by 10%. That month saw O’Reilly’s demo number drop by 9% in the demo, Hannity dropped 6%, and Greta Van Susteren declined by 12%. However, Fox News is so far ahead of the competition that it will take more than a few months of decline before their perennial position at the top of the ratings is threatened.
I do think that there are a couple of potential explanations for what is going on with FNC’s demo ratings. It is possible that the Fox News audience is getting even older than it already is. A 2010 survey found that Fox News has the oldest viewers on television. The average age of a Fox News viewer is 65, and FNC seems to be going in the wrong direction. The declining demo numbers suggest that the Fox News audience is actually getting older, not younger.
Why can’t Fox News attract the viewers that make up the demo (age 25-54) audience?
I think part of the problem is that the network’s tone is designed to appeal to older conservatives, but FNC also faces the problem of Jon Stewart educating his bigger than Fox audience on a nightly basis about the network’s dubious practices. Fox News has gone after Jon Stewart and tried to discredit him as everything from a racist to a secret Democratic operative, because he has become the nation’s most visible media critic, and his criticisms hurt FNC’s attempts to attract younger viewers.
Even though Americans are living long into old age, depending on senior citizens to form the core of your audience is not a good long term plan. Fox News is having an unprecedented run on top, but eventually their inability to attract younger news consumers is going to catch up with them.
If Fox News can’t attract younger viewers, it will only be a matter of time before audience erosion catches up with them. It would have been unfathomable 20 or so years ago that CNN would be a third place news network.
If Fox News doesn’t plan ahead, CNN’s present will become their future.
Related Posts :
The bad news keeps coming for MSNBC's Keith Olbermann. The 2010 ratings data is starting to trickle in, ...
The cable news ratings for the third quarter of 2010 were released today, and Fox News is showing signs ...
By losing 9% of their audience in 2011, Fox News' prime time lineup now averages fewer viewers than Jon ...
Younger television viewers continue to abandon Fox News in droves. In February, Fox is down another 29% ...
Fox News lost 34% of their young primetime viewers during the first quarter of 2013, but over at MSNBC, ...
26 Responses to July Ratings Show Younger Viewers Continue To Turn Off Fox News
Public Service Advertisements
Dawn9476
Aug. 2nd, 2011 at 11:39 pm
Do we know the income levels of these older people who watch Fox? Are they wealthy and don’t need social security? Medicare? Because if not, I don’t know why on earth any sane person older than sixty five who depends on SS to live would watch Fox News and listen to them attack SS day in and day out.
buckeyewill
Aug. 2nd, 2011 at 11:55 pm
Strange isn’t? You depend on SS and you look at the FIX News Channel as your source for information.
While on the network channel you put out trash TV shows with “Viewer Discretion Advised”
buckeyewill
Aug. 2nd, 2011 at 11:56 pm
oops…”they” in place of “you”
AFM
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 12:39 pm
Well there is always exceptions to the rules. I’m a senior citizen with only a high school education and well travelled throughout the world and I love Jon Stewart and Colbert shows. I am a viewer of MSNBC and sometimes CNN. I just can’t take Fox News. Hammering nonstop democrats all the time isn’t fair and balanced. No matter what you think of Stewart is does hammer both parties and so does MSNBC.
Goodcarver
Aug. 4th, 2011 at 1:17 pm
I too am a senior cit who watches The Daily Show and Colbert. I have never watched FOX and probably never will. Comedy Central broadcasts better news than FOX and CNN.
MsJoanne
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 2:05 pm
Because part of propaganda is brainwashing. Why do you think you saw signs like Keep The Government Out Of My Medicare!? Yes, part of is the THEY don’t deserve it, and I’m not THEM, but ignorance of what is government and what government does is part and parcel of GOP propaganda.
Cathy
Aug. 2nd, 2011 at 11:41 pm
Did not watch fox when I was younger, and I’m sure not going to watch now! I realized immediately when Fox came on the air that their “news” is sensationalized, and now they have regressed to talking heads spewing hatred. Do not ever watch Fox, but my opinion is based on news clips linked at different sites.
boil
Aug. 2nd, 2011 at 11:42 pm
those numbers also dont reflect that that demo doenst use or buy cable anymore. the under 30′s are using the web for daily show, and more everyday. cable is dying the death of a thousand cuts, and like the music industry has their heads in the sand. i know i work in hollywoodland…. i see more production moving into new formats now everyday… and as the depression gets worse, so will cables numbers as cable is one of the first things to be turned off…. good for blogs like this!
Dan Skinner
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 12:05 am
oh good lord, the only people watching Fox “news” smell like Ben Gay, Belched Ensure and dirty Depends.
Sarah Jones
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 12:21 am
Ok, that was so funny.
Jim H
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 12:33 am
Even looking past the attrition by death of their viewership, Fox News may be splattered by the defecation hitting the rotary oscillator in the UK over the News Corp scandal. If they lose FCC licenses or people learn that Fox News has participated in hacking the lives of 9/11 survivors and witnesses, their demise may speed up.
Still, I agree that new media is taking the place of sitting in front of the television at primetime listening to somebody spoonfeed us the news.
Shiva (Moderator)
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 12:45 am
That explains why the old folks dont know that the GOP and tea bags want their Social Security and medicare to stop
dz
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 1:41 am
Can we just lay off lumping all the ‘old folks’ as non-thinking SS/Medicare swilling GOPers?? Take a closer look at some of the TP gatherings, all ages are represented. I’ve read in several places that the median demographic of the TP is middle-aged white males but I’d never stoop to labeling all men in this category as brain-dead.
Shiva (Moderator)
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 8:42 am
I will try to explain to you exactly what I said. I said that the old people are watching Fox news and that is why they do not know that the GOP wants to take their Social Security and Medicare away. The emphasis is on Fox news.
And as long as you’re watching Fox news and you are a senior citizen you will not be given the truth on what the Republicans are doing. Comprehension 101
Sally
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 12:47 am
One would think that a network that depended on elderly viewers would hold at least some views that pertain to the health and security of those viewers. Instead, they want to take everything away from them and give it to themselves. And here I thought the biggest idiots were Palin and Bachmann.
MiserableOldFart
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 2:15 am
I’m 61 and I don’t have cabal TV in my house, primarily because of FUX Noose. If I had it in my home, the only reason I would EVER watch FUX Noose is for the sole purpose of recording sponsors to AVOID them. The American right is the most powerful source of evil in the world today, and has been the greatest threat to American freedom since 1945. Since 1981, however, they have been destroying this country at a frightening rate, and they must be stopped.
john
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 2:49 am
here is one area where we are not powerless..Glenn Beck was brought down by a combination of declining ratings, and advertisers boycotts..we can participate in boycotts even as non viewers.. we can write letters to advertisers without watching Fokkks..
indeed with the legal trouble that may very well befall the Mudoch Empire, the combination of dwindeling advertisment revenues may hasten thier demise..the triple effect of boycott, legal troubles (perhaps the biggest scince watergate). and demographics can kill the beast!!
(apologies for dyslexia without a spell checker)
Mikeyhatesit
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 3:54 pm
I absolutely love the irony of this. The right-wing is so intent on making this country into a corporate state, yet thanks to the pushback efforts of boycotts (such as @StopBeck), Glenn Beck lost his prime Fox real estate.
I know the boycotts weren’t the sole reason for Beck’s termination (contract non-rewal?), but they were an excellent weapon that exposed his own strategy to discredit Van Jones & ACORN- popular boogeymonsters of the Right. Isn’t this what capitalism is all about? The company has to do what it can to maximize profits. If they have a bad reputation, they will either improve the product/corporate structure, or go bankrupt.
I notice that there isn’t that much focus on that aspect. I don’t think it’s approval of pure free market practices, but an agreed silence to prevent more people from taking notice and realizing that boycotting en masse can be as effective as convening in the town square.
Older_Wiser
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 5:50 am
As a 70 yr old, I wouldn’t touch Fux News with a 10 ft pole, nor any of those “reality” shows many young people deem as “must sees”, either.
Pls stop categorizing us seniors. Many of us are not brain dead yet and keep up with everything, continually, sorting, sorting, sorting, to separate the wheat from the chaff.
JonBull michael
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 8:28 am
If fox news & new york post are not in major phone-hacking trouble by the end of the year, then i’m a Dutchman
Calvin
Aug. 3rd, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Let it die! Congratulations to us younger viewers. Getting smarter
ProgLib
Aug. 4th, 2011 at 8:37 am
As much as the decline of Fox News is very uplifting, they have gone through this kind of phase before. Obviously, a lot of it depends on what is happening in the political world, but they will always manage to rile up the teabaggers who watch Fox and get all their propaganda talking points from the likes of Hannity, O’Reilly and the clowns who host in the mornings.
I noticed Fox’s numbers really starting to plummet right before the elections in 2008, and it was great to finally see people tuning them out, while simultaneously electing an African American for President. Once the election passed, the tea party and far-right influence started to come around, Glenn Beck debuted his show, and the rest is history.
Knowing this network and their clever tactics of populist movements that attract gullible uneducated robots, they will find a way to get the viewers back they lost right back and angry all over again.
cwazycajun
Aug. 4th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
this makes me laugh and wonder why would fox go after jon stewert thats like going to a ak-47 gun fight with a tooth pick he is infinatly smarter than they are and he doesnt have to lie his ass off to keep people watching him gooooooo jon goooo
Goodnews
Aug. 10th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
Congradulations to people seeing Fox News for what it is. ( I call it the “conspiracy channel” or “I hate Obama” channel.