Assessing Fox Business Network, Two Years Later

In Depth

by Steve Krakauer | 9:06 am, October 19th, 2009

» 12 comments

Fox Business Network celebrated their two-year anniversary last week, and with the addition of Don Imus, the FBN brand has been discussed more recently than at any other time in the young channel’s history.

After talking to dozens of people who work or have worked at FBN, work at other business networks, or are part of the financial community, we’ve broken down where the network stands, two years in.

Ratings: The debut of Imus in the Morning from 6-9amET has brought big ratings from day one, with 177,000 total viewers, but just 9,000 in the A25-54 demographic (and 73,000 in the A35-64 demo). For the week, the show averaged 148,000 total viewers.

But we’ll get back to the I-Man later.

The last time ratings were leaked before Imus joined the network was August, and the average was around 21,000 during the “business day” – 5am-9pmET (with Imus’ strong debut ratings, the average has reached as high as 60,000). In prime time the number was a little higher, and it was a little lower during the morning hours. With Imus factored into the average, that total viewer average has likely received a big bump. But one area that is clearly still incredibly low is the A25-54 demographic.

And the A25-54 demo is one that advertisers look at as well, compounding the need to improve the ratings in that category. But FBN Executive Vice President Kevin Magee told Mediaite, “I’m not terribly worried about that. The fact of the matter is they are improving, they may not be as quickly as you may think, but we’re doing fine.”

Still, Magee says the network does sell against the rating category. “We do any number of ways, and one of them is the demo, but smarter ad buyers understand that 25-year-olds are great for buying car stereos, but don’t invest a lot,” he said.

That may be – but 50-year-olds do. And one thing Imus’ first day numbers showed is that the wide array of viewers that make up the 25-54 demographic are not being reached very well. With 177,000 total viewers, just 9,000 were in the 25-54 demo. 73,000 are in the 35-64, which means 64,000 come from the 55-64 category. Assuming the under 25 crowd is minimal, that means 95% of the viewers were 55 and older. For the Imus numbers, that percentage is likely to be much higher than the rest of the day, but only because the total viewer is so high – in fact the key demo number is likely to be lower for most of the other business day programs.

A business news insider tells Mediaite, “There’s no one out there that could have predicted their number would be this low, for this long, unless they watch on a regular basis.”

Still it’s important to remember a few factors – the demographic viewer number is very likely to be the last category to see significant growth. While Fox News, which celebrated its 13th birthday last week, was able to surpass CNN in some categories after four years, it took more than five years to beat CNN in the demo. And sticking with Fox News, a network that is now so dominant over the rest of the cable news landscape, let’s take a look at how that network was performing after its first two years. For October 1998:

CNN – 430,000 total viewers, 116,000 in A25-54
MSNBC – 150,000 total viewers, 56,000 in A25-54
FNC – 79,000 total viewers, 27,000 in A25-54

While Fox News was certainly doing significantly better than FBN is, the network was far behind industry leader CNN at the time. And FNC, a general cable news channel, has a wider appeal in general than the more niche FBN. Bloomberg, which has been around a lot longer than FBN, averaged 63,000 total viewers and 19,000 in the demo during 5-8amET during December 2008, in numbers obtained by Mediaite. These numbers are better than the general Imus-free FBN show, but not by much.

So are the ratings that bad? Well they aren’t good – the demo number is incredibly low and the total viewer average has a ways to go. But Imus will continue to help significantly (again, much more on this later). And it’s important to keep things in perspective, when looking at the still very young network.

>>> NEXT PAGE: Financial community reach and network ‘in-fighting’

Pages: 1 2 3 4

Bloomberg, CNBC, Don Imus, Don Imus Debuts, FBN, FBN Two Years, Fox Business Network, Fox Business Two Year Anniversary, Kevin Magee, Neil Cavuto

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Jenna Lee makes me smile.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Vik-Sidhu/122608564 Vik Sidhu

Fantastic piece, Steve!

Just a few random comments I wanted to point out:

1) Your discussion regarding the demo is spot on. It’s true that “older” people likely have more wealth and some people try to discount the demo for business networks. However, you gotta look at the ads that are aired on FBN/CNBC – they’re for things like automobiles, financial/investment services, sometimes high-end clothing and so forth. People who are in their late 50s/early 60s are NOT looking to purchase most of these things. So targeting a younger audience IS in the network’s best interest, and it’s good to see Magee on the record talking about the demo importance.

2) Talent infighting – I wish you dished out more details on that ;)
I was hoping you would have asked FBN employees what THEY thought of Imus’ hiring, and whether it was at all “diluting” the brand
When Ted Weisberg said that Imus reduces business news to the “lowest common denominator”, I think that quote is going to make FBNers squirm….because it’s true.

3) I believe Nielsen’s criteria for making ratings public is that a network achieve a 0.1 rating during the day (I THINK).
If that’s true, with Imus, Fox Business IS in fact hitting a 0.1 (at least they did on the first day). Any indication when they’ll be releasing their ratings? I mean really, how much longer are they going to hide behind Nielsen and hide their numbers….

4) I know you won’t/can’t say, but I’m relatively sure the “Business Insider” you spoke to was someone from CNBC (giveaway: pg 4 “It’s just not actionable information.” – from their tagline “We are fast, accurate, actionable and unbiased). If that’s the case, I’m not sure that’s the BEST person to be getting “unbiased” insider info from….
m

Great article!
http://mediaite.com Steve Krakauer

Hey Vik-

Appreciate it. As for #2, that’s what I’ve got so far, but I’ll be keeping an eye on it. For #3, it doesn’t look like there’s any plan to start releasing ratings any time soon, for a few reasons. With Bloomberg still not publicly rated, I think there’s less of a rush as well.

-Steve
CaptainAmerica

This article could have been much better. Where is any talk about how big a feat it is to be in 50 million homes at the 2 year mark and all the revenue those homes bring in to the channel?

Where’s all the mention about how Imus and other planned additions could add tremendously to those distribution and revenue plans?

When comparing demos, did you say how much Imus’ competition does in the 35-64? CNBC’s numbers aren’t that much greater. What’s a usual SB show? How many times has SB scratched in the key demo in the past year? What’s the median age of a Corvette owner or some of these other automobiles and other high priced goods that these shows cater to?

But at least McGee is on record saying that the 25-54 isn’t that important at this stage:
But FBN Executive Vice President Kevin Magee told Mediaite, “I’m not terribly worried about that. The fact of the matter is they are improving, they may not be as quickly as you may think, but we’re doing fine.”

McGee knows where the revenue streams are and at this point it isn’t ad revenue. Be nice if you addressed those issues because alot of your readers probably think FBN is dependent upon ad revenue to make it. Also be nice if you had mentioned what their forecasts were for channel distribution within the next 2-3 years. How many homes do they plan on being in by then? What is their marketing strategy going to be with Imus, Stossell on board. Are they going to do more than run promos on FNC?
Sunnyr

Roger Ailes is a genius. He is hiring some excellent, but controversial, people from other networks and will have FBN up as the Number One Business Network in short time. WTG, Fox!
CaptainAmerica

Also its not touted really till the 4th page that FBN is for MAIN STREET investors not Wall Street ones.

You make this point on page 3:

While Imus isn’t providing the necessary tools for someone in the financial world to start their workday, they can certainly get their information in other places (like the web).

and its nice that you acknowledge that FBN shows on the web look like TV shows.

The point you didn’t really hit on in the article is that Imus doesn’t dilute FBN’s brand. They are for main street investors. To those people they aren’t trading stocks every hour. It doesn’t matter so much what the LIBOR is overnight….or what the Bundesbank (or ECB) has done recently. Those overnight things don’t matter that much.

But FBN does provide business updates during Imus show to catch up the main street investors on what they might need to know and if they want more then they can watch FBN’s show with Jenna Lee online during those hours.

So never was it really pointed out in the article how for most of the people FBN is targeting for viewers, there business day really doesn’t start until 9:00 am ET.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Vik-Sidhu/122608564 Vik Sidhu

CA, I don’t really understand your obsession over increasing carriage, collecting fees and the whole spiel you repeat constantly.

Yes, Fox Business is focussed on increasing their household figures. However, that can carry a network only so far. At the end of the day, RATINGS are the bread and butter of any TV network – and that includes attracting the appropriate demographics. A network can’t sell ads if no one is watching them. So what if 100 million people have access to Fox Business? GROWTH needs to come from somewhere – you can’t rely on your carriage fees forever.

Just to further disprove your point – Fox is shutting down their “Fox Reality Network” (which is carried in 50 million homes).
{http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman2/publish/Hereandthere/Fox_Reality_becoming_Nat_Geo_Wild.asp}
That network relied pretty much exclusively ON carriage fees – since they had very little original content, and just played endless repeats of Fox reality programming (aka LOW costs). Why couldn’t they survive? Because they had NO RATINGS. Sooner or later, you need to generate some money with ad sales – and you can’t sell ads without ratings.

You’re really the only person harping on and on about how important their household coverage is. Knowing Fox, they’ll get FBN up to 70, 80, 90 million homes in a relatively short period of time. It’s practically a given – this isn’t a point that needs to be debated. But after that – they HAVE to increase their ratings somehow.
That’s why *ANY* network ultimately wants to increase their carriage….higher carriage = more viewers = *more ad dollars*. For some reason, you discount this equation.

FBN better have one HECK of a sales team who can sell ads based on a 55+ crowd, whether these older folks are wealthy or not. Unless you think Fox can make money selling “Life Alert” ads all day, you’re going to have to reassess your stance on the demo. If you like it or not, CNBC offers more attractive demographics across the board – more youthful viewers, more affluent viewers, more educated viewers (remember – Fox Biz is “main street”) – that’s why CNBC can actually make money despite their low measured ratings. A 55 year old “main street-er” watching at home just will NOT command the same ad premiums as an average CNBC viewer.

P.S. As a point of reference for you:

Friday’s Squawk Box (Oct 16th):

Total Viewers: 179,000 “professional trading types” (as Eric Bolling classified himself)
25-54: 50,000 viewers
35-64: 95,000 viewers
55-64: 45,000 viewers

Imus’ first day:

Total Viewers: 177,000 “main street-ers”
25-54: 9,000 viewers
35-64: 73,000 viewers
55-64: 64,000 viewers

So you tell me – if a financial company, high-end merchandiser, or auto maker was presented these viewer profiles, which one of them would command a premium? And which would be tossed in the shredder?
CaptainAmerica

I’m well aware that Fox Reality is giving way to the National Graphic channel. But of course FRC (which had been around how long now) was only getting .9 a household instead of .15 like FBN. Huge difference right there.

Now at least you admit FBN will be up to 70, 80 even 90 million soon. So you are admitting that FBN will be not only in the black soon but profitable as well just off carriage fees alone.

Odd how you don’t say much about CNNFN not getting past 30 million homes in its 9 years in existence. They did have to throw in the towel.

FBN is only 2 years old and you compare that to Fox Reality? Fox Reality is 4 1/2 years old and its not past 50 million homes. So you’ve already admitted that FBN will be far past that and of course profitable by then from fees alone.

You can obsess all you want about demographics and other things. As they increase their distribution the viewers will come. So will the advertising. Fox every 10 million homes they pick up thats an increase of $18 million a year to the FBN coffers. If they go up to 90 million homes, that’s another $72 million a year in fees they will be getting.

The viewers will come as the distribution increases and as they start marketing the channel beyond FNC promos. They won’t even begin to integrate and change the name of the network until 2012.

Magee understands it. You don’t
Still, Magee says the network does sell against the rating category. “We do any number of ways, and one of them is the demo, but smarter ad buyers understand that 25-year-olds are great for buying car stereos, but don’t invest a lot,” he said.

But I’ll let you get back to your FBN/FNC hating.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Pete-Atikins/1162762506 Pete Atikins

yeah I’ll have to agree with Vik here

There really shouldn’t even BE a discussion about household coverage around here. The U-L-T-I-M-A-T-E goal of a cable network is to generate ratings; getting more households is merely a stepping stone to reaching that goal. When was the last time anyone ever saw a press release touting a network reaching “X million households”? Hardly ever. RATINGS are what generates a network’s true worth, and ultimately determines its success – not the # of households.

Working in the marketing arena myself (and dabbling in local/semi-national ad sales), I can also affirm that presenting an attractive demographic slate (whether it be age/income/education/geography) is what determines ad rates; never the “household reach”. Just because a network gets more households doesn’t mean they’ll get more viewers; heck, CNN is carried in 99 million households and they can barely attract 1 million viewers a night. So a tiny niche network like Fox Biz REEEEEEALLLYY has their work cut out for them, especially with 2 formidable competitors with CNBC & Bloomberg. I’ve never, EVER, EVER had anyone ever ask me “how many households is this network carried in”.

All these paragraphs devoted to households and all that from the above commentator is nothing more than fluff. Networks live and die by the ratings. And at this point, Fox Business has none to speak of. Stripping out Imus, the network can’t even get a 0.1 during the day (something like 36,000 viewers from another blog I read); and that’s WITH the huge promotional heft of News Corp/Fox News. Imus is helping, to an extent —– but as Vik pointed out, the demographics at this point are far from enticing (except maybe to “Head On” LOL). Even if this channel reaches every household in America, it has a LOOOOOT of work to do before they can get anything attractive to grab ad $$.
CaptainAmerica

There really shouldn’t even BE a discussion about household coverage around here.>>

Yeah, why worry about that! LOL Stick with selling local media! Don’t get in with the big boys!
CaptainAmerica

Whine whine whine whine whine from the Fox haters. Love those liberals! ;)

Imus has been on the air how long and that’s the first thing FBN has done to address their ratings and they are crying about them now. Imus is already not far from CNBC’s 35-64 demo. Right in the same ballpark, but oh no, that’s not good enuf.

For someone to claim a networks reach doesn’t matter or the money they make is laughable. Also for them to claim they don’t see press releases of those networks touting new milestones shows they just aren’t in the business at all. That’s a huge bragging point for networks when they pick up more distribution. How many times have we even seen the releases when a cable network is picked up by a new cable system and it only adds 1 M new homes or so. They do it all the time.

Some of these people probably freak out that (even before Hannah Montana) Disney channel didn’t take ads and yet look at the huge fee they got. GASP. How could that network make it without ad revenue. Shocking!

FBN only 2 years old and already in 50 million homes and Fox finally starts making moves to increase ratings (as well as distribution) and the network has already beaten a network that has 18 years ahead of them and yet they whine.