PEJ: How Cable News Can Grow

Some bullet points from PEJ’s analysis of cable news ratings trends:

> FNC is the undisputed champion. “From now on, to grow, Fox News must focus more on winning over viewers who already had access to it but heretofore chose not to watch, or not to watch as much.”

> “While Fox News has a larger core audience, CNN may be the winner when it comes to the ‘news on demand’ people.” Those people only tune in “when events pique their interest.” The pattern is particularly true for younger viewers.

> Between 2002 and 2004, “the overall audience” for cable news grew slightly, “but Fox’s share grew even more, a sign of cannibalizing its cable rivals.”

> In order to grow, cable must be more than talk radio on TV: “It will have to attract new viewers with new kinds of programming.”