It has been an interesting 2016 for television news programming.
Yesterday, we wrote about the year-over-year ratings performance for the top cable news programs, as well as broadcast’s evening news programs. One might be surprised to learn that there is a significant difference in the year-over-year ratings trajectory for cable versus broadcast in 2016. Many of the top programs in cable news are delivering significant year-over-year growth, including top ranked The O’Reilly Factor, which was up 19 percent in total viewership this past quarter versus the same quarter in 2015. Other top cable news programs, including Hannity, The Kelly File, Anderson Cooper 360 and the Rachel Maddow Show, are seeing significant year-over-year growth, both in total viewers and in the key news demo. Maddow actually improved by triple digits in the news demo this past quarter from the same quarter in 2015, and Fox News as a whole is having its most-watched year ever.
The story hasn’t been quite as positive when it comes to the ratings for the evening news programs on the Big 3 broadcast nets. This past quarter, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir experienced slight year-over-year bump in total viewers, but fell double digits in the key news demo. NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, the No. 1 evening news program for the second quarter, experienced single digit year-over-year growth in the key categories. The same was true for the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley. Yes, the year-over-year growth for broadcast evening news exists, but the growth is minuscule when compared to its cable news counterparts.
Why has this been the case? Perhaps it’s a combination of tone and content. Hosts like Hannity and Maddow have absolutely nothing in common from an ideological standpoint, but each possesses strong opinions and each isn’t afraid to share them on air. In what has been an unbelievably polarizing campaign season, ardent TV news watchers are taking sides. The broadcast evening news shows are less about the hosts and their political leanings, and more about the general reporting of the news. One isn’t totally sure where Holt, Muir and Pelley stand on the issues, and they aren’t really provocative figures; and that’s probably fine with them. Additionally, while politics is a major theme on each of the Big 3 evening news programs, other topics are discussed as well. Cable news’ top programs, on the other hand, have almost exclusively focused on the campaign season, which seems to be what TV news viewers want right now.