Why Is HLN Topping CNN In Primetime?
Checking out the cable news primetime ratings for this week, one set of numbers immediately leap out:
Monday, March 2, 8-11 p.m. (P25-54)
FNC: 713,000
MSNBC: 419,000
HLN: 299,000
CNN: 285,000
Tuesday, March 3, 8-11 p.m. (P25-54)
FNC: 569,000
MSNBC: 423,000
HLN: 310,000
CNN: 241,000
HLN, the little network that could, is beating its older sibling CNN in the target 25-54 demo in primetime.
Not only that, but CNN finished fourth in the demo those two days, behind Fox News, which typically lies at the top of the list, MSNBC and HLN.
The trio of Campbell Brown, Larry King and Anderson Cooper, all well known household names, and all very expensive, should not be finishing fourth, period.
Now the question is, why? During the presidential election and its related events (the inauguration, Obama’s recent address to congress, etc…) the race was between CNN and Fox News.
Once the major political events died down, and barring an exclusive interview or special on another network, Fox would usually return to the top of the cable news rankings.
In this instance, it looks as though HLN reaped the benefits of intense interest in a murder trial, and some good old fashioned populism.
HLN’s Nancy Grace easily topped CNN’s Campbell Brown at 8 p.m. both nights. As it happens, in the 10 p.m. hour Tuesday a rerun of Nancy Grace beat a new edition of Anderson Cooper 360 by 50,000 demo viewers, as well as a rerun of Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
That would be due to the Casey Anthony murder trial, Casey having been charged with first degree murder in the death of her daughter Caylee. Whenever there is a national criminal case, be it the Anthony case (which gave Grace a ratings record last December) or the Duke Lacrosse team rape trial (a story Grace might regret since all the players charged in the case were acquitted), she seems to draw huge ratings.
Lou Dobbs also topped Larry King in the demo Monday, March 2 at 9 p.m.; somewhat of a surprise given that King had an exclusive interview with Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal.
In his show Dobbs talked about the “global new deal” proposed by UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and “big government.” It looked like a pretty standard edition of Dobbs’ program to me, but I guess it resonated with viewers. Either that or people really don’t like watching Bobby Jindal.
At any rate, the ratings news is great for HLN, which is showing that it can hold its own against the competition, and bad for CNN, which should be topping its little sister every night, even with the odd criminal case boosting Nancy Grace.
Ratings from Wednesday night aren’t in yet, stay tuned to see how it turns out.
UPDATE: Normalcy was mostly restored Wednesday, with HLN returning to fourth place. Nancy Grace still performed strongly at 8, topping Brown and keeping it close with Olbermann, but Dobbs and the Grace replay did not perform as well as they had the previous two nights. CNN jumped to a close third, trailing MSNBC by about 50,000 demo viewers for the evening.
mike commented:
I DONT KNOW WHO IS WORST JANE OR NANCY,BOTH DRAMA QUEENS,THEY BOTH DESERVE EACH OTHER,MEDIA WHORES,THEY GLORIFY BAD NEWS,SHAME ON THEM..
Shannon commented:
With HLN being my only source for news right now, I'm going crazy with the way they're beating the hell out of the Michael Jackson story. I was a fan, love his music, and think it was a tragedy, but until something truly newsworthy happens, SHUT UP!! How about reporting the NEWS?? There's stuff happening every day that deserves much more attention than Jackson's doctor, a black man with an attitude pulling the race card on a white cop, or a washed up reality star being a swinger. How about three or four aviation incidents in the last few days? A deadly highway crash in New York? As I write this, Nancy Grace is doing her best to squeeze yet more blood out of Michael Jackson. I'm sick of it! I'm also sick of that obnoxious Jane Mitchell plugging her pathetic book every five minutes. I assume with her hyphenated name that she's married, and I would have to shake the hand of the man who is able to put up with her mouth on a daily basis. I can't wait until I have another outlet for news, and I'll be done with HLN.
Brett commented:
Jane Mitchell is sooooo annoying. She is trying too hard to be like Nancy Grace. Every time someone is about to say something interesting, Jane cuts them off and says something stupid. She does not come anywhere close to filling the shoes of Glenn Beck. Love him or hate him, that guy was sharp and brought out some good issues. Larry King should just pass on so his wife can get what she has been waiting for and that stupid gossip show with AJ Hammer I cannot take one more second of that crap. Same crap over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. They are leaning towards Chris Brown (oh poor him) deserves and second chance but both Issues and Showbiz tonight have thrown Michael Vick under the bus and he does not deserve a second chance. DISGUSTING!!!
cookie,from baltimore commented:
HLN- WHAT? IS JANE,MITCHELL. JACKED UP ON AND, WHAT,IS SHE SMOKING. SHES, SO OBSESSED WITH MICHAEL,JACKSONS TOXICOLOGY REPORTS, AND WHAT HE (DID OR DID NOT) CONSUME. HLN, HAVE YOU ASKED HER TO TAKE A TOXICOLOGY TEST. NO, ONE IS THAT HYPER NATRUALLY, MAYBE THATS A SCANDAL WAITNG TO COME OUT, BUT WE ALL KNOW THAT WILL BE KEPT QUIET. JANE,MITCHELL GET A LIFE, AND STOP HERASSING, MICHAEL,JACKSON. AND THE JACKSON FAMILY. MISS. MITCHELL, NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOR OPINION, OR YOUR GUEST PANNEL. AND, THEIR SO-CALLED OPINION. WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY IS NOT IMPORTANT, AND REDUNDANT. MOVE ON. COOKIE,FROM BALTIMORE.
cookie,from baltimore commented:
HLN- THANKS TO YOUR CONSTANT GOSSIPING, ABOUT MICHAEL,JACKSON. AND DISCLOSING ALL OF HIS DEATH INFORMATION, NATION WIDE. NOW, HIS DEATH- RECORDS HAVE BEEN LEAKED. AND, ANY ONE CAN, NOW HAVE ACCESS. (THANK,YOU HLN)- YOUR IDIOTS.
cookie,from baltimore commented:
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, WHY DO YOU ALL, CONTINUE TO- BASH,THE LATE. MICHAEL,JACKSON. WHAT, YOU JOURNALISTS ARE DOING IS OUT RIGHT HATE TOWARDS THIS MAN, AND HIS FAMILY. MR.JACKSON IS NO LONGER HERE, TO DEFEND HIMSELF, AND YOUR MILKING THIS WHOLE SITUATION, FOR SO-CALLED RATINGS. LET ME BE PERFECTLY OHNEST WITH ALL OF YOU. NO ONE CARES ABOUT ANY OF YOUR OPINIONS,AND THATS JUST WHAT THEY ARE, YOUR OPINIONS, JERMAINE,JACKSON. SAID IT PREFECTLY LEAVE MICHAEL ALONE. ALL OF YOU HAVE BEEN HORRIBLE TOWARDS HIS FAMILY. EVERYTHING, ABOUT THIS WHOLE TRADGEDY IS FUNNY, TO ALL OF YOU- REPORTERS. AND, YOU CONTINUE TO SAY ITS NEWSWORTHY,(no) YOUR TRYING TO DESTROY HIS MEMORY, AND YOU WANT TO BRAIN- WASH PEOPLE IN TO, BELIEVING THE CRAP ALL OF YOU SPEW, FROM- YOUR MOUTHS ON A DAILY BASIS. THE WORLD LOVED MICHAEL,JACKSON AND EVERYTHING HE STOOD FOR. AND YOU HATE IT. IT KILS YOU, THAT A LITTLE BLACK BOY FROM GARY,INDIANA COULD ATTAIN SUCH , WORLD WIDE FAME-FORTUNE-LOVE AND APPRECIATON. AND YOU HAVE DONE EVERYTHING IN YOUR POWER TO DEFAME HIM, EVEN GOING TO THE LOWEST OF LOW, BY AIRING THE HORRIBBLE PEPSI COMMERCIAL THAT SHOWS THE MAN BEING BURNED ALIVE, WHO WANTS TO SEE ANOTHER HUMAN BEING, BURNED ALIVE. HOW DARE YOU, ALL OF THE NETWORKS SHOULD BE ASHAMED. HIS, POOR MOTHER, HAS BEEN THROUGH HELL, SHE LOST HER CHILD, AND YOU ALL FIND HUMOR IN HER SUFFERING. WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE ARE YOU. STOP HERASSING,MICHAEL AND STOP HERASSING HIS FAMILY, WHAT PURPOSE ARE YOU SERVING. YOUR HURTING EVERYONE WHO LOVES HIM. STOP HATING THIS MAN AND ALLOW HIM TO REST IN PEACE. AND ALLOW, HIS FAMILY PEACE, THEY DESERVE IT. ALL OF THIS HATRED WAS NOT GODS PLAN, AND MAY GOD HAVE MERCY ON ALL OF YOUR SOULS. WHAT ARE YOU TEACHING YOUR CHILDREN, TO JUDGE SOME ONE BECAUSE THEIR DIFFERENT. COOKIE, FROM BALTIMORE.
Lexie J. commented:
I can hardly tolerate Jane V. Mitchell. She shouts all the time. You can certainly tell she is an animal rights activist and uses the show to speak to her own agenda. May as well watch Animal Planet.
Joan Reynolds commented:
I love Nancy Grace. No matter what the subject she sticks to it. I do not like Jane V Mitchell, Brown or Anderson because they are too blatent with their personal political opinions. I like to be treated like I have a brain! I do not need them to try to make me feel guilty or stupid.
Thank you Nancy Grace for just doing a show, entertaining with a little uplifting humanity in the mix. Love the Tribute to our fallen Soldiers and love occasional shots of the Twins!
Rachel commented:
i just want to say when a child turns of age as casey anthony did i can see where they would not know where she was. casey is a spoiled brat. i feel so sorry for george
JToppER commented:
Campbell Brown is sorry in the worst way...
danny commented:
i cannot take anderson cooper and his narcisism. larry king is too old and too late. cnn is over. sorry.
justsick commented:
Please get word to President Obama, That we in the state of SC need his help. There is so much suffering going on here. Sanford who is the Gov. has lost his mine. He does not care about SC and has not for some time. Please Help SC
jeremyemilio commented:
Really? The numbers that stand out to me are the numbers "25-54." Unless you are trying to sell adds, the "demo" breakdown is pretty irrelevant. Do you think people between 25 and 54 are somehow more important than others? Are the intrinsically more valuable? Advertisers concentrate on the demos so that they will know who the target audience is. Yes, 25-54 is the most sought after demo, but even the most hard core ratings analyst wouldn't suggest, as you seem to, that viewers outside this demo are somehow irrelevant. If the audience is older (or younger) you sell different products; you don't sell NO products. In fact, regardless of product, most ad agencies would take two 55 year old viewers over one 40 year old any day. But again, none of this matters unless you are selling products. For those of use who look at ratings to get an idea what PEOPLE are thinking, the numbers for the dates covered above look like this:
March 2, Primetime (Demo: PEOPLE)
FNC – 2,849,000 viewers
CNN—1,075,000 viewers
MSNBC –1,278,000 viewers
CNBC – 234,000 viewers
HLN – 758,000 viewers
March 3, Primetime (Demo: PEOPLE)
FNC – 2,578,000 viewers
CNN—999,000 viewers
MSNBC –1,194,000 viewers
CNBC – 188,000 viewers
HLN – 724,000 viewers
And more recently they look like this:
March 12, Primetime (Demo: PEOPLE)
FNC – 2,644,000 viewers
CNN—1,221,000 viewers
MSNBC –1,000,000 viewers
CNBC – 340,000 viewers
HLN – 753,000 viewers
Nice try, though.
ME commented:
It's all because MSNBC got a lesbian. CNN needs a gay bump! C'MON ANDERSON! You know what to do! (And btw HLN's Issues already has the gay bump. More proof that it works!)
Beth commented:
I am watching Nancy Grace almost every night now even though in the past I have been a whole-hog, as it were, standard news junkie. The Casey Anthony case has grabbed me by the neck and won't let go. And almost every night there is something else compelling about the case. Right now I can't believe that a woman as obviously guilty of first degree murder as this is not apparently going to be facing the death penalty. I do not support the d. penalty in most cases. It has to be clear and convincing for me. And this one is that. In any event, this case continues to draw me in, and I am now a Nancy Grace follower.
Barbara commented:
The Casey Anthony story stays in the news because no one could make this stuff up. The dysfunctional family and the circus of characters who have been drawn into this case are strange. Most people have never met someone like Casey Anthony and cannot understand how the death of her daughter has no effect on her
Kendall James commented:
Thanks for the info Alex!
One thing that I always find curious, is how Fox is able to comes out on top on these weekly ratings polls CONSISTENTLY.
The Rupert-owned New York Post was caught dumping newspapers in order to "up their circulation numbers" at one time, and also did the same thing in Australia, so how do we know if he's not wheeling and dealing with the Neilsons?
(BTW, this format won't let me add the link to the New York Post story) :-(
But speaking of the Neilson Ratings, an article that would be FASCINATING to read (because I don't think anyone has ever written about it) is which locations in the U.S. have viewers who take part in the Neilson tracking.
I know that some entire states are excluded, but it would be interesting to see exactly which areas are included (and why) and which states are excluded (and why).
Thanks Alex for your excellent article!