The Harris Poll is out with its EquiTrend Study this morning–the 29th such measurement of brands, including news outlets.
Here’s what they found: among liberal-leaning consumers, CNN saw a 7-point increase, MSNBC was up about 2 points, while support for Fox News dropped 6 points.
Among conservative-leaning consumers, Fox News, CNN and MSNBC all lost support, with FNC dropping 5 points and CNN down 3 points. Newspapers fared the worst among conservatives: The Washington Post’s brand equity dropped 12 points, while The New York Times declined 6 points. Perhaps most surprisingly in the era of “fake news,” NPR, which has not been a verbal target of Pres. Trump, gained 2 points among conservatives.
“Despite prevailing political winds, NPR has not seen any notable wavering of support from liberals or conservatives,” said Joan Sinopoli, vice president of brand solutions at The Harris Poll. Still, Fox News is far and away the strongest news brand among conservative-leaning consumers, while NPR is tops with liberal-leaning consumers.
TV networks still lead among all media outlets followed by Factual Entertainment TV (like History Channel and Discovery Channel), then Internet Radio (like Pandora.)
“TV networks are the brand equity powerhouse of the media industry, primarily because these are such familiar brands,” said Sinopoli. PBS is the TV Network Brand of the Year; NPR is News Service Brand of the Year; and, as we reported last week, The Weather Channel is TV News Channel of the Year, for the 7th year in a row.