"Fox News Dominates July News Ratings/MSNBC Narrows Gap on CNN in All-News-Network Battle"--that's the headline atop Steve Donohue's piece in the must-read Multichannel News.
Donohue continues:
Fox News Channel dominated the all-news ratings race in July, while MSNBC posted the best growth in the category and narrowed the gap on CNN.
Fox News averaged a 1.2 primetime rating in July, down 14% from the same month last year. CNN averaged a 0.6, down 25% from 0.8, and MSNBC posted a 0.5 rating, up 67% from July 2006.
CNBC’s primetime ratings were flat, with a 0.1 primetime average. CNN Headline News posted a 0.4 rating, up 33% from the 0.3 it averaged in July 2006.
Fox News accounted for 13 of the top 15 programs on cable news in July and 11 out of the top 12 in the adults 25-54 demo that advertisers target on all-news networks.
The O’Reilly Factor was the top cable news program, averaging 1.9 million viewers. Also in the top five: Fox’s Hannity & Colmes (1.4 million viewers); The Fox Report with Shepard Smith (1.3 million); Special Report with Brit Hume (1.19 million); and On the Record with Greta Van Susteren (1.16 million).
And it was nice of Donohue to mention CNBC in his piece--or maybe it wasn't so nice, since the dying biz cabler is pulling a 0.1 in prime time.
