Business Wire - a conduit for press releases - has one up from Fox News, claiming a huge victory in the cable news war with 9 out of the top 10 shows.
But when you look at the numbers, it doesn't bode very well for the entire industry.
Network / 2nd Qtr 2004 / 2nd Qtr 2003 / %ChangeEssentially, 24/7, Fox and CNN lost 38% of their audience since last year, and the NBC cable nets lost half of theirs. The Iraq War played a huge part of last year's numbers, but as you can see, the percentages of people watching cable news now is essentially miniscule.
Fox News / 0.8 / 1.3 / -38%
CNN / 0.5 / 0.8 / -38%
MSNBC / 0.2 / 0.4 / -50%
CNBC / 0.1 / 0.2 / -50%
Headline News / 0.2 / 0.2 / 0%
Not to minimalize Fox's grand triumph here, but between them and the goofball talk shows on CNBC/MSNBC, you've got about a point - or about 1.5 million viewers nationwide. CNN has half that.
So Fox is king of cable news. Next competition: Which tastes better: oak or pine?
