Though all four news nets were down, CNN continues to see the largest year-to-year decreases in viewership. The raw numbers:
Total day (Mon-Sun): 413K Total / 123K A25-54
Prime (Mon-Sun): 569K Total / 148K A25-54
CNN is down roughly -40% in primetime and -35% in total day for both total viewers and the demo. CNN also saw month-to-month decreases in both categories.
In the demo, CNN finished April in fourth in both primetime and total day. In total viewers, CNN fared a better, finishing #2 in total day and #3 in prime. CNN also again topped MSNBC in 9am-5pmET hours in total viewers and the demo.
“American Morning” finished #4 in total viewers, but topped MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” in the demo. The 3pmET and 4pmET hours now occupied by “Rick’s List” were down more than -40% compared to last April in both total viewers and the demo, yet CNN continues to best MSNBC in those time slots.
“John King, USA,” which recently launched, is down -48% in total viewers (-52% demo) compared to the same time slot last year, which was occupied by “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”
“Larry King Live,” which was averaging over a million total viewers last April, was down to 671K this year. “AC360” again drew fewer viewers than replays “Countdown” and “The Rachel Maddow Show” in the demo, but also came in third in total viewers. The last time MSNBC placed ahead of CNN at 10pmET in total viewers was July of 2000.
CNN release after the jump…
HLN AND CNN TOP MSNBC IN TOTAL DAY
CNN SURPASSES MSNBC DURING THE DAYTIME (9A-5P); MSNBC IN 4TH PLACE
HLN’s MORNING EXPRESS TOPS MSNBC’S MORNING JOE FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR AMONG 25-54
FNC DOWN 11% AND MSNBC DOWN 16% IN M-F PRIMETIME DEMO COMPARED TO A YEAR AGO; GLENN BECK LOSES 28% OF HIS AUDIENCE SINCE JANUARY OF THIS YEAR; OLBERMANN DECLINES 30% FROM A YEAR AGO
CNN DIGITAL NO. 1 NEWS & INFO DESTINATION IN TOTAL MINUTES, VIDEO and MOBILE
TOTAL AUDIENCE
CNN: 90.2 million viewers Fox News: 82.3 million viewers MSNBC: 74.8 million viewers
CNN.com: 38.7 million users Foxnews.com 17.0 million users MSNBC.com: 33.8 million users
HLN: 79.5 million viewers
**Based on Monthly Unique TV Viewers in April and Latest Monthly Digital Users (March)
CNN
In April, CNN topped MSNBC during the daytime (9am-5pm) in total viewers and in the key demo 25-54 and in total day (6am-6am) among total viewers. In head-to-head comparisons with MSNBC’s daytime non-opinion news programming – CNN was top-rated, posting a 64% advantage among total viewers (465k vs. 284k) and a 69% advantage among 25-54 viewers (122k vs. 72k). MSNBC placed fourth every hour of the day in the demo 25-54, except at 4p where they placed third behind Rick’s List. At 5p Hardball (107k) was third behind CNN’s Situation Room (123k) in the key demo 25-54. In total day among total viewers CNN had 413k vs. MSNBC’s 391k.
MSNBC AND FNC DECLINE
As a the only non-partisan cable news organization, CNN is always impacted more by the ebb and flow of the news cycle, but in April, the partisan nets – FNC and MSNBC — also experienced declines compared to a year ago. Both networks experienced double-digit demo declines in M-F primetime, where losses stood at -11% for FNC and -16% for MSNBC. Driving the daypart declines were notable losses for FNC’s Hannity at 9p (down 19%) and MSNBC’s Olbermann at 8p (down 30%).
Declines were even more substantial for FNC in comparisons to its recent 12-month peak in January 2010. The network’s M-F primetime audience fell by 22% in total viewers (2.949m vs. 2.304m) and is off 25% in the demo 25-54 (795k vs. 596k). Also on the decline was FNC’s Glenn Beck, which has lost 28% of its audience since January in both total viewers and in the key demo (2.955m vs. 2.122m and 806k vs. 577k). It also posted its very first decline versus its own year-ago performance since launching in January 2009 among both total viewers (2.122m vs. 2.276m, down 7%) and 25-54 (577k vs. 616k, down 6%).
Primetime: April 2010 vs. April 2009 (M-F/8-11p)
FNC: down -11% in 25-54 (596k vs. 671k)
MSNBC: down -16% in 25-55 (253k vs. 302k)
On FNC: 8p O’Reilly is down -3% in the demo; at 9p Hannity declined -19%; and at 10p Greta is down -14% in 25-54.
On MSNBC: 8p Olbermann is down -30% in 25-54; at 9p Maddow -9% and Olbermann at 10p is down-6% in the demo.
Total Day: April 2010 vs. April 2009 (M-Su/6a-6a)
FNC: down -16% in 25-54 (287k vs. 342k)
MSNBC: down -12% in 25-54 (129k vs. 146k)
Daytime: April 2010 vs. April 2009 (M-F/9a-5p)
FNC: -21% in 25-54 (252k vs. 319k)
MSNBC: down -27% in 25-54 (72k vs. 98k)