The Business TV Numbers Game

By Chris Ariens 

The NYTimesBrian Stelter writes about how “the marketplace for television business news” is heating up. Next month a new channel will launch, and an existing one will make some changes. Fox Business Network bows October 15. Earlier in the month, as Stelter writes, Bloomberg TV will do away with its “trademark crawl along the bottom of its screen in favor of a cleaner look that puts the stories into context.”

In terms of the numbers, here’s how the business nets break down:

— Reach: “Bloomberg has a potential cable reach of 49 million homes in the United States, less than CNBC’s 90 million but more than Fox Business Network’s anticipated 31 million.”

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— Affluence: “The Mendelsohn Affluent Survey has found that Bloomberg TV viewers have an average household income of $199,000. CNBC viewers have an average household income of $184,000.”

— Ratings: CNBC had its best August in five years. But from 5a-9a ET, when Bloomberg is aired on “E! Entertainment Television, “the broadcasts averaged 30,000 viewers” in the 25-54 demo “in the third quarter of 2007, edging CNBC’s 26,000 viewers in the demographic.”

And a parting shot from Bloomberg News editor-in-chief Matt Winkler. “Clearly, there is a part of CNBC that is focused on entertainment. That’s not our focus.”

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