What People Watch

[Bradley in DC]

What People Watch
A new Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll looked at who watched the three big cable news networks (Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC), and whether they thought them reliable sources of news.

Key findings:

Conservatives (and the South) watch Fox News and little else.
Independents watch little at all
Democrats split their dial between CNN and MSNBC
18-29 year olds don't watch much cable news, but they particularly shun Fox.

http://www.dailykos.com/statepoll/2009/8/6/US/331

[brandon]

Is this a surprise?

[InterestedParticipant]

What I find most relevant are the figures representing the percentage of respondents who NEVER watch these channel:

FOX 66%
CNN 61%
MSNBC 77%

My takeaway from this is that the country is paying less attention to mainstream media, albeit, it would be interesting to review similar poll numbers from 5 years ago or so.

[tangent4ronpaul]

What I find most relevant are the figures representing the percentage of respondents who NEVER watch these channel:

FOX 66%
CNN 61%
MSNBC 77%

My takeaway from this is that the country is paying less attention to mainstream media, albeit, it would be interesting to review similar poll numbers from 5 years ago or so.

From July, 2004:

FOX News Channel Garners 55% of Cable News Audience
Fox News Channel garnered more than 50% of the cable news audience in primetime and total day during the second quarter of this year, according to Nielsen Media Research cited by the Fox News Channel.

In contrast, CNN and MSNBC both attracted less than a third of the same market share, stated a news release from Fox News Channel. In prime time, Fox News Channel commanded 55% of the cable news market share, averaging 1.4 million viewers, while CNN claimed 32% of that audience with 828,000 viewers. During Rick Kaplan's first full quarter as president of MSNBC, its prime-time line-up attracted 13% of the cable news audience with 321,000 viewers (down 41% in viewership year to year).

I'm not sure that's very helpful...

-t

[tangent4ronpaul]

OK - totally relative:

http://people-press.org/report/?pageid=566

Survey Reports
June 8, 1998
Internet News Takes Off

The public now has several choices for round-the-clock cable news, and the survey indicates that many Americans are watching the newer cable news outlets. Nearly three-in-ten Americans (28%) watch at least one of three alternative cable news networks regularly: 12% watch the business-oriented CNBC; 8% watch MSNBC, the Microsoft-NBC collaboration. In addition, 17% of survey respondents reported watching the FOX News Channel regularly. National ratings and subscription statistics suggest that this figure is exaggerated, perhaps because respondents confuse FOX News Channel with other FOX television offerings.(1)

Furthermore, there is considerable overlap among the audiences of the various cable news networks. Regular CNBC and MSNBC viewers are more likely than average Americans to be regular CNN viewers (51% vs. 23%). Viewers of MSNBC are better than four times more likely than average to watch CNBC and similarly, viewers of CNBC are four times more likely than average to watch MSNBC.

CNBC's audience is older, while MSNBC appeals equally to those over and under age 50. Interestingly, MSNBC, which is linked to a fully interactive Internet site, is no more popular among online users than among those who do not use a computer.

...

C-SPAN and Court TV

Two other specialized cable offerings, C-SPAN and Court TV, attract comparatively smaller audiences. Some 4% of Americans watch C-SPAN regularly, another 19% tune in sometimes. The C-SPAN audience is largely male, older and affluent. C-SPAN viewers are active consumers of a host of other news sources. Fully 76% watch CNN regularly (compared to 23% of the public), 38% watch CNBC and 17% watch The NewsHour. In addition, C-SPAN viewers are hearty consumers of radio news. Nearly one-third listen to NPR and 21% listen to political talk radio regularly, compared to 15% and 13% of the general public, respectively.

...

The audience for political talk radio, however, has diminished significantly in recent years. In April 1993, 23% of Americans listened to radio shows that invite listeners to call in to discuss current events, public issues and politics regularly; another 32% listened sometimes. In the current poll, only 13% listen regularly, 22% listen sometimes. The biggest falloff can be seen among non-whites, political Independents and men over age 50. Today, Republicans are almost twice as likely as Democrats to listen to political talk radio regularly. Men between ages 30 and 49 are talk radio's most loyal listeners.

Just as the audience for political talk radio has declined somewhat, talk radio host Rush Limbaugh has seen his popularity fade since 1994. In July 1994, 26% of the public listened to Limbaugh's radio show regularly or sometimes, today 16% listen at least sometimes. The Limbaugh audience is slightly larger than the audience for Howard Stern's radio show (14% listen regularly or sometimes). Some 12% of the public listens to Dr. Laura Schlesinger at least sometimes.

More than a quarter of the public listens to religious radio shows such as Focus on the Family at least sometimes (10% regularly, 16% sometimes). These shows have particular appeal for women and blacks -- 67% of those who listen regularly are women; 32% are African American. Not surprisingly, white Evangelical Christians listen to religious radio at a much higher rate than the general public: 51% listen at least sometimes.


ENDNOTES
1. Nationwide the FOX News Channel has approximately 31.5 million subscribers; MSNBC has 39 million and CNBC has 64 million.

http://people-press.org/report/88/internet-news-takes-off

The Pew Research Center's biennial news use survey finds that overall Americans are reading, watching and listening to the news just as often as they were two years ago. But the type of news Americans follow and the way they follow it are being fundamentally reshaped by technological change and the post-Cold War news climate.

The number of Americans obtaining news on the Internet is growing at an astonishing rate, and watching varied cable news outlets is now just as common as viewing network news programming. Reflecting these profound changes, the percentage of Americans who watch only nightly network and local television news has fallen to 15% from 30% in 1993. The fickle mood of today's news consumer is further illustrated by the fact that over half of Americans watch the news with a remote control in hand.

...

I clipped TONS! click through for the rest.

they should have something more recent somewhere on the site

-t

[Matt Collins]

On Feb 6th 2008 I returned my cable box and haven't had any TV since. I do Netflix though, there are some great documentaries out there.