CNBC Audience Slips
Viewership Dips, But Key Demo Gains During Four Days After Fox Business Network Launch
By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 10/19/2007 10:43:00 AM
Fox Business Network, which launched Oct. 15, won’t be rated until sometime next year.
But the fledgling financial service during its first four days on the air apparently took some viewers away from segment leader CNBC.
CNBC saw viewership decline across several measures from Monday Oct. 15 through Thursday Oct. 18, when compared with prior-week results. However, CNBC officials note the network improved its performance among adults 25 to 54, the key news demographic, during its business-day daypart.
From Oct. 15-18, CNBC averaged 257,000 viewers from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., down 12% from 293,000 weekday watchers from Oct. 8-12, according to Nielsen Media Research data.
The network, though, said it scored an 11% advance over the Oct. 15-18 span among adults 25 to 54 during its key weekday business-day period of 5 a.m. through 7 p.m., when measured against those hours during the first two weeks of October.
CNBC -- whose officials point out that Nielsen does not measure viewing in strong network locations like executive suites, trading floors, offices, health clubs, restaurants and hotels -- registered a 5% advance among adults 25 to 54 during its business-day period Oct. 15-18, compared to the corresponding four days a year ago.
Through Oct. 18, CNBC was up 3% with the demo in the daypart versus the same stage of fourth quarter 2006, according to network officials.
During market hours from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., CNBC scored 308,000 viewers on average from Monday through Thursday this week, according to Nielsen data, a 4% daypart decline from the 321,000 average for the Oct. 8-12 period.
Relative to primetime, CNBC notched 221,000 viewers from Oct. 15-18, compared with a 256,000 average for the full week of Oct. 8-14.
Gauged on a total day-basis from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., CNBC posted a 214,000 average for the first four weekdays this week. That compared with a 237,000 average over the prior week's span, according to Nielsen data.
