A study of social engagement by cable news networks released Wednesday finds MSNBC on top, leading both Fox News and CNN–though it’s a very close race. “MSNBC demonstrates high audience engagement, ranking number one for comments and shares per 1000 fans and number two for likes per 1000 fans,” says the report by Engagement Labs.
The study said MSNBC’s “extremely active user base, quantity of content” and high engagement led them to the top, though other networks showed considerable strength as well:
Fox Business came out at number one on our eValue Engagement subscore and CNN placed number one for Impact. It’s worth noting that both networks have more followers than MSNBC – however their active user base is lower than that of MSNBC’s meaning that they have lower levels of Engagement on content with their total audience base, thus decreasing their total eValue score.
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Variety notes that the “engagement” figures are limited in scope:
For one thing, Engagement Labs is not disclosing the relative score of each of the networks it analyzed (data reserved for paying clients). In addition, the TV data — pulled directly from Facebook and Twitter — covers only a two-week period, from May 11-24, 2015.
Moreover, the firm’s rankings are about effectiveness, not absolute reach. It’s worth noting that MSNBC has just 1 million followers on Facebook, while Fox News has 10.3 million and CNN has 17.5 million.