Democrat Debates and Last Weeks Ratings

We'd like to wish John Roberts a very happy birthday!



Don't forget to tune in at 8 PM Thursday night for the Democrat debates from Las Vegas. Here's the rest of the CNN line up for debate day.

6 a.m.-9 a.m.
American Morning with John Roberts live on location in Las Vegas

4 p.m.-7 p.m.
The Situation Room with Blitzer live on location in Las Vegas

7 p.m.-8 p.m.
Lou Dobbs Tonight with Dobbs live on location in Las Vegas

8 p.m.-10 p.m.
CNN/Nevada Democratic Party Presidential Primary Debate

10 p.m.-11 p.m.
Special Anderson Cooper 360º post-debate program anchored by Anderson Cooper and featuring Blitzer, Roberts and Campbell Brown live on location in Las Vegas

11p.m.-1 a.m.
Replay of CNN/Nevada Democratic Party Presidential Primary Debate

ONE CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH WITHOUT EXTRA RATINGS DATA…^
RATINGS GURU LOOKS AT NOV. 5-9, 2007

Yes, a ratings researcher always wants more raw data to be able to interpret the audience figures as accurately as possible. But when only Adults 25-54 and Total Audience 2+ are available to us, there is just so much we can explain and be objective. Would I love to get an Adults 18+ breakout, an Adults 50+ breakout, an Adults 18-49 one and the Homes Using Television (HUT) levels for each night of the week so I would not have to guesstimate so much? Sure, but this is the real world and Nielsen isn’t in the habit of supplying blogs information.

Last week was a slight growth week for CNN, but it was for the others of the “big three” as well – Fox News and MSNBC. With November sweeps starting, television viewer tune-in is up for the medium as a whole and cable benefits from that. The question I have is who passed on my snarky Friday comment about Bill O’Reilly’s audience? They all rallied and gave him a night on Friday that topped his previous best. And not to get ahead of myself, as I am examining last week’s audience – this past Monday night even beat Friday. It was kind of a bumpy road for all last week, but let’s do some snooping...

8PM:

Fox News: 573,000
CNN: 145,000*
MSNBC: 289,000

Okay, it’s hard to argue a program that posts an average of 573,000 Adults 25-54 and ends the week with 691,000 isn’t a major factor in news information and commentary for Bill O’Reilly. But let’s not call it news, it isn’t. OUT IN THE OPEN didn’t fare well – it is down from last week, but the special investigation on Wrestling on Wednesday did far better than the week average. Monday and Thursday were just very low days for delivery really pulling down the average. Friday bounced back well for the program. It doesn’t seem viewers like substitute anchors – COUNTDOWN really suffered on Friday – off -36% from its week average when Keith Olbermann was not in the anchor chair. ESPN dropped about 2 million in audience, which helped Monday not be such a low rated night for the rest of cable – Raven/Steelers just were not an overpowering draw, although 9.8 million is a substantial audience in cable.

9PM:

Fox News: 455,000
CNN: 329,000
MSNBC: 153,000**

LKL is up 100,000 viewers on average in comparison to last week – and that’s a good thing. HANNITY & COLMES still continues to lead the pack and Dan Abrams had some real highs and lows to come up with an average higher than last week. Jerry Seinfeld was no help to LKL on Monday and nor was Robert Redford (gasp) on Tuesday. People sure wanted to see DOG THE BOUNTY HUNTER apologize as Wednesday was the highest rated program with 504,000 viewers. It dropped when Dr. Phil showed up the next day to analyze DOG and his actions. Friday ended on a solid delivery for LKL with his UFO’s. Even Dan Abrams was up +11% over last week with November viewing levels increasing.

10PM:

Fox News: 361,000
CNN: 241,000
MSNBC: 191,000

AC360 in coming in second in the time period for three nights out of five, helped boost the program +13% over last week’s lackluster performance. Still, MSNBC gave 360 a run for its
money on Monday and Wednesday. MSNBC Wednesday featured Charles Manson/Vampire Killers to boost I guess what you would call the “train wreck” audience. For the most part, 360
stayed above the 250,000 average, but not enough to come close to GRETA. GRETA peaked with a high of 416,000 on Wednesday, so clearly with such a strong night at 10PM, Television
sets in the US were turned on in greater numbers than other nights – the industry term is HUTS – Homes Using Television. Anchor substitutions hit 360 as well as ESPN on Monday – the lowest rated night of the week for the program coming in at 191,000. MSNBC’s doc/investigation block continues to have highs and lows.

Let me know if you have any questions!
Ratings Guru

*4 Day OUT IN THE OPEN applied to 5 days; special aired Wednesday.
**4 Day DAN ABRAMS applied to 5 days; Doc Block airs on Fridays.
^Courtesy Nielsen Media Research, Adults 25-54 LIVE + SAME DAY (LS) Fast Track Nationals.