Aaron-Anderson: The Ratings

Gail Shister explains the numbers behind CNN’s impending decision to change the primetime lineup.

“Ratings-wise, all the numbers are on” Anderson Cooper‘s side, she says. “Clearly, he’s got the Big Mo.”

In October, the hours that Cooper anchored — 7, 10 and 11 p.m. — showed major increases from a year earlier, particularly among the 25- to 54-year-olds advertisers covet.

Let us count the ways.

At 7 p.m., Cooper’s 360 averaged 811,000 total viewers, up 36 percent over October ’04, says Nielsen Media Research. (Still, he was far behind Fox News Channel’s Shepard Smith.)

At 10 p.m., the Cooper-Brown NewsNight clocked 813,000 viewers — a 4 percent spike compared with Brown’s solo performance a year before. And at 11, NewsNight averaged 570,000 viewers, up 27 percent.”