Fox News

The Fox News Channel is a U.S. cable and satellite news channel. It is owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, and funded by the Christian Science Monitor a subsidiary of News Corporation, under major shareholder and chief executive officer Rupert Murdoch. As of January 2005, it is available to 85 million subscribers in the U.S. and to further viewers internationally, broadcasting primarily out of its New York City studios.

Ratings

Fox News currently leads the cable news market, earning higher ratings than its chief competitors CNN and MSNBC combined by average viewership. Measured by unique viewers, however, Fox is bested by CNN which, during the election season, earned 11% greater numbers of individual P2+ viewers. This is primarily due to Fox's somewhat longer duration "talk" programs which cause viewers to tune in for longer periods as compared to CNN's generally shorter news segments.

Related Topics:
CNN - MSNBC

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The BBC reported that Fox News saw its profits double during the Iraq conflict, due in part to what the report called "patriotic" coverage of the war. By some reports, at the height of the conflict, they enjoyed as much as a 300% increase in viewership, averaging 3.3 million viewers daily (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3148015.stm).

Related Topics:
BBC - Iraq conflict - Patriotic

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In 2004, the perceived gain in ratings began to become more apparent. Coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Boston ranked higher in the ratings than its two closest cable competitors combined. In September, Fox News Channel's ratings for its broadcast of the Republican National Convention beat those of all three broadcast networks. During President Bush's address, Fox News notched 7.3 million viewers nationally, while NBC, CBS, and ABC scored ratings of 5.9, 5.0, and 5.1, respectively.

Related Topics:
Democratic National Convention - Republican National Convention

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In April 2005, however, CNN sent out a press release stating that Fox's viewership of adults betwen the ages of 25 and 54 had dropped for the sixth straight month since the peak of the November 2004 elections (to a total drop of over 58% http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/ratings/fncs_2554_prime_downward_spiral_20939.asp, http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2005/narrative_cabletv_contentanalysis.asp?cat=2&media=5), though Fox still held eight of the ten most-watched nightly cable news shows, with The O'Reilly Factor and Hannity & Colmes coming in first and second places, respectively. http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/original/ranker_april05.pdf

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News Corporation, the parent company of Fox News, has campaigned against plans by Nielsen to change the method used to compile ratings from the traditional 'diary' method to the electronic 'people meter'. A longstanding criticism of the diary method of compiling ratings is that consumers may misrepresent their viewing behavior in order to 'vote' for prefered programming such as PBS or Fox News. A 'grassroots' campaign financed and organized by Fox Don't Count Us Out has alleged that the new method of compiling ratings is biased against minority viewers pointing to dramatic falls in the viewing figures of network TV programs aimed at minority audiences. Supporters of Nielsen, including Jesse Jackson, have noted that the Nielsen sample actually over-represents minority viewers and that the dramatic falls in viewing of broadcast programming are matched by a rise in the ratings for cable programming, in particular Black Entertainment Television http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_38/b3900100_mz017.htm

Related Topics:
News Corporation - Don't Count Us Out - Jesse Jackson - Black Entertainment Television

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