Five Reasons Why Fox News Dominated Ratings In 2009

by Steve Krakauer | 9:34 am, December 18th, 2009

» 19 comments

What we’ve known since about March is about to come true – Fox News is headed for its best ratings of all time this year.

As their competitors in cable news fall far behind, FNC looks toward the rest of the cable universe as its new competition – it finished in the top five on all of cable in prime time and total day. What was the reason for FNC’s success? Heres’ five reasons.

1: Glenn Beck: Beck’s enormous success during his first year has helped FNC tremendously. His 5pmET show is up 96% in total viewers and a whooping 148% in the demo from what was in its place last year. But the most important factor for FNC as a whole is Beck’s timeslot. By having the show on at 5pm, the network gets another hour of prime time-like ratings while still keeping its three prime time programs in place. It’s a win-win – and as Beck continues his 100-year plan in 2010, it’s a strategy that will likely continue to pay dividends.

2: Bill O’Reilly: The O’Reilly Factor has been the #1 show on all of cable news for 10 years now, in the demo and in total viewers. Year-to-year, O’Reilly improved as well – up 14% in total viewers and 29% in the demo. While FNC’s all-star continues having his best year, their 9pmET host, Sean Hannity, has enjoyed his best year ever, going solo for the first time.

3: Pres. Barack Obama: FNC has, without a doubt, benefited greatly in the ratings from the election of Pres. Obama. It’s hard to imagine how their ratings would look if Sen. John McCain was elected, but it’s likely they wouldn’t be nearly as strong. By playing the voice of opposition, FNC will continue their ratings success for the next three years – at least. But all of their programs were up in both categories, including their hard news shows at 3, 6 and 7pmET. While their opinion hosts drive the ratings, their viewers are interested in the news product as well.

4: Tea Parties: While the summer months generally see lower ratings, FNC was strongly helped – as their competitors, to some degree – by the tea parties that took place. It didn’t just benefit the tea parties biggest drivers, Beck and Hannity, but from all the news coverage that came from the admittedly great media moments at the parties. Politicians and citizens fighting? Great TV, especially for the FNC audience. The FOX Report, Studio B and Special Report all had their best years ever in total viewers.

5: Stronger Weekends: The one area FNC was not the strongest network in the past was on the weekends, where CNN did news and MSNBC did doc block – to big ratings. With the addition of Mike Huckabee and the continued success of Geraldo Rivera (and Hannity/Beck repeats), the weekends have thrived as well.

- Broadcasting & Cable‘s Marisa Guthrie has more on FNC’s ratings.

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fnc, fox news, Ratings

Pat Doherty

Steve

I’m just curious. Is there a much more significant disparity between the cable news networks this year as opposed to last year? It’s been my understanding Fox has been lapping everybody since the start of the Iraq War, maybe before.
http://mediaite.com Steve Krakauer

There is a much more significant disparity this year.

Especially when compared to last year – CNN actually beat FNC in some hours for the year (AC over Greta in demo). They were helped greatly by election, but still – this is the biggest difference between FNC and the rest of the pack ever.
Facebook User

This just proves to me what I already knew….. the majority of Americans…. are morons…
sandy k.

The sixth reason for FOX NEWS 2009 success, is that ALL of the ‘sore losers’ of the 2008 elections, needed a place to gather, sulk, commiserate and hear Glenn Becks latest conspiracy theories, and get their Republican talking points, as well as general mis-information about Obama administration policies. It’s ALL THERE on ONE channel. What more could they ask for?
keithns1

Do you think that maybe the prime reason Fox News leads in ratings is because it is free to anyone with rabbit ears on their tv. While most of their competition can only be accessed by a paid subscription to cable tv or satellite tv.
SWWT

I’d rather be a moron than an elitist who looks down on those whose views differ.

And keithns1, do you have any actual, credible, and complete proof to back up that claim? Because I heard that MSNBC is actually available on more televisions … from somewhere on the internet.

But the actual article above was good. I like reading about credible reasons why things happen from someone who actually researches the topic and has something meaningful to add.
Tater Salad

I’d like to make a longer post but I have to get the popcorn ready, Glen Beck is coming on.
TfT

FNC’s success has everything to do with WHAT and HOW they report. Although everyone says they are right leaning, it is only because they are the ONLY network to give conservatives a voice. If the other networks would just watch and learn and add some diversity of though/perspective, they would gain viewers.
J Baustian

There was a time, back in the early-mid 1990s, when I had one TV tuned to CNN 100% of the time. I wrote to the network many times, complaining about leftwing bias, before I turned it off for good around 1996-97.

There was also a time when I watched MSNBC on a regular basis — I watched Chris Matthews almost every day, and admit to even watching Olbermann a few times. Not any more.

I don’t really watch FNC all that much, it may be the best of a weak bunch, but it’s not that great as a source of news. I like Beck and try to watch Special Report with Bret Bair (sp?), but the rest of the primetime lineup bores me.

There is room for a really good cable news network that does hard news 24/7. None of the current contenders even makes the effort.
Tom King

To cover up the truth is to lie. All of the media networks are liars. FNC just lies the least. Thank God for the internet where the truth can be told.
Nachi

Hatred has been a big seller this year. It always is so. The RepugliGoons know how to peddle a successful lie – just include enough bare truth to make it believable. Unify the white evangelicals, the Latinos, the war-lovers into one giant seething cesspool of a voting bloc. Mix it all up with a blender of lumps of dread & Conservative intellectual/moral numbness. It has always worked for them. They create a wound that will remain raw & open for decades to come. As the Nation demonstratively spins ever downward into the Darkness.
Fidoohki

Nachi says:

*Sigh* One mans hate is another mans truth.
ImNotBlue

Ah, nice list Steve. Much better than the previous article of a similar subject. Well done!

sandy k. says:
December 18, 2009 at 12:33 pm

It’s ALL THERE on ONE channel. What more could they ask for?

An actually unbiased media that gave equal time to people of all opinions. I know… it’s asking a lot.

keithns1 says:
December 18, 2009 at 2:49 pm

Wrong. FNC is a cable channel just like CNN… in most cases, you need to pay for both of them… neither or over the air broadcasts. MSNBC is sometimes a “digital tier” channel… which means if you’re paying for a cable box (or have satellite), odds are you’ve got it as long as you’ve got other channels like Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.

Sorry… but your thesis is 100% incorrect.

Nachi says:
December 18, 2009 at 6:25 pm

Unify the white evangelicals, the Latinos, the war-lovers into one giant seething cesspool of a voting bloc.

So now you don’t like Latinos either? Man… everyday fewer and fewer people are “acceptable” to you.

But this does prove it… you’re more than just a hateful, bitter, angry, uninformed writer… you’re also a racist. WTG… you must be very proud.
KMarshall

Any network which only reports things the way that the audience wants to believe is bound to have high ratings. The simplistic theories “reported” or in many cases “created” by Fox feed into the non inquisitive minds of many ,if not most of their viewers. It is easy to defend a stance when one disregards all other options as being propaganda. I continue to be dismayed by the popular conception that news is to be “fair and balanced”… News is to be accurate and truthful. When something can be shown to be factual, there is no need to present groundless opinions or theories. Sadly, Fox went to court to establish its right to broadcast fabricated news. As part of a wrongful termination case, they argued successfully that the 1st amendment guarantees them the right to broadcast lies. The ruling is correct, but why would any reputable news organization want to go to such extremes to have themselves labeled as the network of lies by their own admission and the courts certification?
BJL411

It’s like a train wreck you can’t turn away from. This country is not an educated country. We are getting dumber and dumber and omg sooooo gullible.

I’d like the IQ of every Fox viewer tested and posted for all to see online!

Fox is not a “news” channel just because they say they are. They went to court and fought for the right to lie on air…. and they won that right.. in court!

They are a fringe commentary group who knows how to get ratings.. they talk down to the dumbed down and sell fringe antics and use scare tactics.

The kind of thing my 86 yr old grandmother would have fallen for if she were still alive. But she was old and simple. There’s no excuse for the age groups who buy into the insanity, the BS that is sold and sensationalized on Fox.

Man oh man they must laugh their azzes off in the backrooms at Fox how easily they get ratings selling their nonsense.

It’s the same reason David Kuo whom worked in the Bush White House resigned, because of what he witnessed.. he resigned and wrote the book “Tempting Faith”.
ImNotBlue

KMarshall says:
December 19, 2009 at 8:12 am

Sadly, Fox went to court to establish its right to broadcast fabricated news.

OH NO! You got snookered again by a lie! First off, it was a local FOX station… not FNC. Secondly, it had nothing to do with lying! I know that’s how the blue blogs spun it… but you should recognize you’ve been lied to, and do a little research. You’ll find the situation of that case to be completely different than what you’ve been fed.

Sorry to burst your hater bubble.

BJL411 says:
December 19, 2009 at 9:18 am

Yeah yeah, we get it. Everybody who doesn’t think like you do is “stupid.” The left-wing ego is hardly new… but remains a problem.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Sheila-Dunn/1323139637 Sheila Dunn

Fox wins because MSNBC is laughable. Olbermann and Maddow dismiss anyone disagreeing with Obamacare as a tea-bagging racist redneck, yet when Howard Dean disagrees with it, they’re on board. Yet they see no hypocrisy in this. And a good portion of Olbermann’s show is devoted to simply playing Fox clips. His ratings jealousy has grown to the point of dementia and desperation.
JazzDrummer7

Now that we have a black President, all the racists of this country have a station that they can tune in to that makes them feel good about themselves. How else do you explain how such an intelligent, articulate man who just wants to do best for all the people and not just the white and wealthy crowd can cause people to react so repulsively and irrationally to his Presidency. Neither Glen Beck nor Sean Hannity nor Karl Rove nor Bill O’Reilly will ever go down in history as people who contributed to the good of this country. Three of them are just money-making buffoons who tap into and encourage peoples’ worst tendencies and the other is a mean-spirited nerd who was the advisor for the worst president this country has ever seen. None of these four men will ever earn the respect from the good and compassionate people. Those with a heart and soul will never consider these men as distinguished or honorable; that would be the other 296,000,000 million people who don’t watch this network. Hypocrisy reigns supreme in the GOP and their subsidiaries, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News and every other media organization owned by the quite ugly, inside and out, Rupert Murdoch, and, of course, that nasty, smarmy, lying, heartless, phony, drug-addicted piece of garbage, Rush Limbaugh.
Facebook User

“FNC just lies the least.”

No, they don’t.

“I’d rather be a moron than an elitist who looks down on those whose views differ.”

I’m sure that ship has sailed.

“Because I heard that MSNBC is actually available on more televisions … from somewhere on the internet.”

Kind of like Glenn Beck’s trusty source, “the University of… I don’t remember”?

“Yeah yeah, we get it. Everybody who doesn’t think like you do is ‘stupid.’ ”

When did they say that?

“Olbermann and Maddow dismiss anyone disagreeing with Obamacare as a tea-bagging racist redneck”

No, they don’t.

“yet when Howard Dean disagrees with it, they’re on board.”

That’s because he makes his points based on facts and standing up for health care rights.

“And a good portion of Olbermann’s show is devoted to simply playing Fox clips.”

No, it’s not. Barely even a short clip per day comes from fox news, if that much… but that is what happens when you are an illegitimate “news” channel. You have to be called out on your crap.

“His ratings jealousy has grown to the point of dementia and desperation.”

Nobody obsesses over ratings but the idiots at fox news (and their viewers) who do everything to get them. If Olbermann really cared about ratings, he would be pulling the same crap O’Reilly, Beck and Hannity do on their ridiculous shows. He doesn’t, and he gets lower ratings. Plus, he doesn’t even get the worst ratings. He basically beats every program except all the ones on Fox, so what does he have to worry about? Not much.