The Cable Gamer keeps reading that Keith Olbermann is kicking butt in the ratings. For example, I see this headline, from blogger John Hoard, dated September 12: "Olbermann Defeats O'Reilly in the Ratings." And yet as Bill Gorman keeps pointing out, Bill O'Reilly is still comfortably ahead in the cable news wars.
Call me conspiratorial, but I think that liberals--led, of course, by The New York Times--are trying to "talk up" Olbermann and "talk down" Fox. I mean, is that even a controversial statement? That the MSM would seek to displace the verdict of the viewers with their own elitist predilections? Why I even see attempts at outright hagiography, even if KO is distinctly un-saint-like.
But here's something interesting, from the world of broadcast sports: NBC is down now that Olbermann is on the air, providing commentary for "Football Night in America."
This is significant because MSNBC has claimed that Olbermann's appearance on NBC is helping the NBC networks "in the demo"--that is, among the younger-viewer demographic. But if that's true, if Olbermann is so great, then why are they down week to week? Down 21 percent among 18-49-year-olds and down 16 percent among 25-54s?
MSNBC is making this a point of interest by trying to exploit his NBC appearances and saying how that translates into viewership for MSNBC. But that doesn't compute, as the numbers--laboriously put together by your Cable Gamer--clearly show. (Although I am sorry if the data look so small on the screen; I will have a talk with Blogspot about that!)
So in any case, no dice, MSNBC, on the Olbermann overhype!
But maybe it makes MSNBCers feel better to know that KO is a hero to some liberal YouTubers. Now all they have to do is figure out how to Nielsen-ize YouTube views. And if MSNBC can't do that, well, then, they've just got themselves another overhyped and underperforming egomaniac on their payroll.
