The cable news ratings seesaw for No. 2 has been in MSNBC’s favor for some time, but not in July. CNN reclaimed runner-up status to Fox News Channel for the month by most key measures.
What’s most disconcerting for MSNBC might be its total day average among the news demo of adults 25-54. Dropping 33 percent from July 2013, it actually ranked below HLN by 16,000 viewers for No. 4
To be sure, it wasn’t a particularly outstanding month for most of the networks. In primetime and total day, CNN, MSNBC and HLN all were off double digits in the targeted demographic compared to a year ago. FNC, which easily retains the top slot, had the benefit of being up a tick (2 percent) in primetime for an average 299,000 adults 25-54.
The only thing MSNBC has had to crow about in recent years is that it was ahead of CNN, a network that was busy hitting historic ratings lows during that period. MSNBC‘s brand of crazy doesn’t seem to sell as well when President Obama isn’t on the ballot or is in an extended free fall of his own.
What progressives in the MSM don’t understand is that they are the fringe of the fringe. They tend to remain unaware of this by staying in the Manhattan/D.C. media bubble, a place that bears almost no resemblance to the real world. The network has benefited from being part of a parent news organization that is run by hard-left ideologues and has been willing to subsidize it regardless of ratings.
As long as it was Number Two.
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