No wonder Obama's snubbing Fox News - The President won't shut up but he refuses to appear on the highest-rated cable news network. Hmmm...I wonder why. Anyway, Chris Wallace calls the Obama White House "the biggest bunch of crybabies."
5 comments:
Nielsen Mandela
said...
Fox News is reaping what they've chosen to sow. But leaving that aside, being the highest-rated cable news network is like being the smartest of the Seven Dwarves. Except that Beck's competition is easier than Doc's was. There aren't seven cable news networks.
If top-rated Bill O'Reilly's show were moved from Fox News to Fox (or one of the other networks), its average audience would rank with shows like the cancelled "Pushing Daisies." Competitors like Campbell Brown and Rachel Maddow would be even lower, down in CW Network territory. The disastrous Keith Olbermann one-shot on NBC demonstrated that a demographically sound cable news staple equates to a substandard network fill-in. Fox News' overall rating is less than the average for Vince McMahon's XFL football league, which is considered one of NBC's programming nadirs.
"ICarly" kicks all the cable news channels' butts. If it's viewing numbers he's after, forget about Fox News -- the President should schedule a visit to Bikini Bottom.
Nielsen--Is there an actual point to your comment, other than "if the situation were altered, the outcome would be different"?
Regardless, it's not just the number of viewers that are important to the news broadcasts--it's the type of people in the audience. I'm sure all the news shows would get more viewers if they threw in some car chases, scantily clad dancers, and explosions too.
Dar-- Yes, there is a point. My first post demonstrated the flaw in the suggestion that President Obama should not have refused to appear on Fox News because it's "the highest-rated cable news network." The highest ratings in cable news simply aren't high. Thus, when Fox News' supporters say that the channel merits a certain level of catering to by the President due to the size of its audience, they should be advised that their logic puts them way back in the line, behind "Burn Notice" and reruns of "Gossip Girl."
Clearly, the President didn't skip Fox News because of its unremarkable rating shares. He blew them off because of the channel's professional malfeasance. Since that's not where the Fox side wants the debate to occur, they'd like to shift attention to their #1 categorical status. But being tops in the cable news racket is like leading the Los Angeles Clippers in rebounds. SOMEBODY'S #1 every year, but why should anyone care?
I see you've moved to the Don Imus-style assertion/alibi, "it doesn't matter how low I stand in terms of viewership, I've got the right KIND of viewers that advertisers love." That premise does carry weight in today's segmented TV landscape. But it carries none in this case, because Fox News has the oldest audience of ANY ad-supported cable channel in any genre, as reported by Variety 3 months ago. The average Fox News viewer is a white man over 65 years old, which is demographic death. The average Fox News viewer is older than the average Golf Channel viewer, older than the Hallmark Channel's median audience, and older than those watching "Password Plus" reruns on the Game Show Network.
However, your innocent faith that the news channels don't already jack up ratings by "throwing in car chases, scantily clad dancers and explosions" is absolutely charming.
5 comments:
Fox News is reaping what they've chosen to sow. But leaving that aside, being the highest-rated cable news network is like being the smartest of the Seven Dwarves. Except that Beck's competition is easier than Doc's was. There aren't seven cable news networks.
If top-rated Bill O'Reilly's show were moved from Fox News to Fox (or one of the other networks), its average audience would rank with shows like the cancelled "Pushing Daisies." Competitors like Campbell Brown and Rachel Maddow would be even lower, down in CW Network territory. The disastrous Keith Olbermann one-shot on NBC demonstrated that a demographically sound cable news staple equates to a substandard network fill-in. Fox News' overall rating is less than the average for Vince McMahon's XFL football league, which is considered one of NBC's programming nadirs.
"ICarly" kicks all the cable news channels' butts. If it's viewing numbers he's after, forget about Fox News -- the President should schedule a visit to Bikini Bottom.
For the record, I didn't know until late yesterday that Fox had skipped the Congressional address for "So you think you can dance?"
Nielsen--Is there an actual point to your comment, other than "if the situation were altered, the outcome would be different"?
Regardless, it's not just the number of viewers that are important to the news broadcasts--it's the type of people in the audience. I'm sure all the news shows would get more viewers if they threw in some car chases, scantily clad dancers, and explosions too.
Dar-- Yes, there is a point. My first post demonstrated the flaw in the suggestion that President Obama should not have refused to appear on Fox News because it's "the highest-rated cable news network." The highest ratings in cable news simply aren't high. Thus, when Fox News' supporters say that the channel merits a certain level of catering to by the President due to the size of its audience, they should be advised that their logic puts them way back in the line, behind "Burn Notice" and reruns of "Gossip Girl."
Clearly, the President didn't skip Fox News because of its unremarkable rating shares. He blew them off because of the channel's professional malfeasance. Since that's not where the Fox side wants the debate to occur, they'd like to shift attention to their #1 categorical status. But being tops in the cable news racket is like leading the Los Angeles Clippers in rebounds. SOMEBODY'S #1 every year, but why should anyone care?
I see you've moved to the Don Imus-style assertion/alibi, "it doesn't matter how low I stand in terms of viewership, I've got the right KIND of viewers that advertisers love." That premise does carry weight in today's segmented TV landscape. But it carries none in this case, because Fox News has the oldest audience of ANY ad-supported cable channel in any genre, as reported by Variety 3 months ago. The average Fox News viewer is a white man over 65 years old, which is demographic death. The average Fox News viewer is older than the average Golf Channel viewer, older than the Hallmark Channel's median audience, and older than those watching "Password Plus" reruns on the Game Show Network.
However, your innocent faith that the news channels don't already jack up ratings by "throwing in car chases, scantily clad dancers and explosions" is absolutely charming.
As pointed out by the Daily Show, it's hilarious for Fox to call anyone a "crybaby" when one of the network's stars regularly weeps on the air.
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