If there's a news industry headline from the 1st night of the Democratic National Convention, it's this: MSNBC Rocks CNN & Fox. Rolandz's rec list diary has an excellent overview of the cable news network's viewership numbers from last night; this diary expands on those numbers and compares to 2008.
Let's get right to the numbers (provided by an acquaintance at MSNBC). First chart is total viewership, compared with 2008 DNC coverage:
This chart is viewership in the coveted 25 - 54 age demographic, compared to 2008 DNC coverage:
As I
diaried last week during the RNC in Tampa, the viewership of all of the cable news network coverage was down compared to 2008, but nowhere more so than at CNN, which shed 61% of its viewers compared to 2008. CNN continues to take a viewership drubbing at the DNC in Charlotte - but what has to be most concerning to CNN management is that their numbers in the 25 - 54 demographic have dropped even 10% more than their overall viewership (27.2% vs 18.6%). Fox's numbers took an even bigger hit, juxtaposed against 2008 numbers.
MSNBC is the only cable network in positive territory, and wow, are their numbers are up significantly from 2008 campaign coverage (up 65.5% during prime time, 7PM to 11PM). The network's total viewership on DNC day 1 was nearly double that of Fox, and 1/2 million more viewers than Faux Lite CNN.
I guess the CNN Brewpub at the DNC isn't making much of a difference for their ratings. I'll diary Big Dog's numbers tomorrow.