News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) (NASDAQ:NWS)’s Fox Business Network (FBN) scored a major coup over CNBC in the ongoing ratings war between the two giants in the news industry. According to a report from Nielsen, the coverage of the Republican National Convention on Fox topped NBC’s coverage in the number of viewers by more than 2 million.
Meanwhile, New Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) (NASDAQ:NWS)’s Fox News Channel reportedly had 6.9 million viewers during the 10pm to 11pm time slot, while NBC only showed 4.8 million. This delivers a beating to a major rival in the news industry, and comes as a surprised to only a few people.
Many American’s have begun leaning towards Fox News Channel for news coverage, as they tend to feel that other networks may be biased toward a more liberal point of view. Fox News Channel ‘s slogan of “We report, you decide”, has long been a major draw to those who want a “fair and balanced” newscast.
Fox Business Network viewers peaked during New Jersey governor, Chris Christie’s address, and while these numbers are indeed high, they are by no means a definite method of measurement for the election. Prior to the interest generated by Sarah Palin in 2008, Gerald Ford was the last Republican to record higher numbers than the Democratic party.
Mitt Romney’s wife, Ann, and Governor Christie came close to matching the 2008 numbers generated by McCain and Palin, but Paul Ryan will have to be on his A game to match Palin’s debut numbers. She recorded a whopping 37.2 million viewers, which was a huge record, and will be tough to beat. Ryan, though good looking, may not have the sex appeal that Palin carried for the younger generation of Republicans. He will have to rely on his record as a servant in the political arena, as well as his brilliance in understanding economics, which is a key component of the election this year.
If the convention matches the numbers from 2008, then Fox Business Network will have no issues holding NBC back again tonight.
Some of the statistics from Nielsen are listed below:
FBN:
8p-9p: 246,000 P2+ /93,000 (A25-54)
9p-10p: 307,000 P2+ /111,000 (A25-54)
10p-11p: 388,000 P2+ /161,000 (A25-54)
11p-11:14p: 308,000 P2+ /147,000 (A25-54)
CNBC:
10p-11p: 163,000 P2+/76,000 (A25-54)
