Jake Tapper Wins This Week Ratings ‘Audition’

by Tommy Christopher | 9:13 am, January 10th, 2010

The past two weeks have provided an opportunity to compare the performance of a pair of leading candidates to succeed George Stephanopoulos as the host of ABC’s This Week. By one measure, at least, White House correspondent Jake Tapper has emerged with an advantage over Nightline co-anchor Terry Moran, drawing 60,000 more viewers. That might seem slim, but a closer look at the numbers indicates that ABC might want to consider moving in Tapper’s direction.

Here are the numbers: (Source: Nielsen Media Research via ABC News Media Relations)

While 60k might not seem like a huge difference, it’s worth noting that 83% of Tapper’s lead is in the all-important 25-54 demographic. Additionally, Jake outperformed Moran while drawing from a smaller total audience, and cut into Meet the Press’ lead in the demographic by 150,000 more viewers than Moran did.

There are other factors that affect viewership, of course, but I think these trends are indicative of Jake Tapper’s appeal to the younger demographic, and likely the result of his ability to leverage new media.

Either candidate would be an excellent choice (as would Ted Koppel), but Tapper seems uniquely positioned to tap (sorry) into that Twitter-era audience that advertisers find so attractive.

share this post

filed under

ABC News, Jake Tapper, Robert Gibbs, Ted Koppel, Terry Moran, This Week, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, this week with jake tapper, Tommy Christopher

2 comments

Fidoohki says:

January 10, 2010 at 9:23 am

I watched him and I wasn’t too impressed. Maybe it was jitters though I do give him credit for being hard on both sides in the debates.

GORD2000 says:

January 10, 2010 at 2:00 pm

If Jake doesn’t get This Week and ABC goes for a strong voice from the past (such as Ted), they are making a big mistake. The flipside is that Jake could probably end up as a permanent host of a Hardball-type of cable show or a syndicated Sunday morning show.

If you would like to comment, please login or register:

» Login » Register

» Or connect with your Facebook account:

Democrats Announce They Won’t Use “Deem And Pass”

by Colby Hall | 3:29 pm, Saturday

video

After a week of debate over the process behind passing the potentially historic health care legislation before them, it appears that the Democrats in the House will now not be using the "deem and pass" method to move the bill through the house. Representatives Steny Hoyer and Tom Clyburn just announced to the press on Capital Hill that they expect to have the votes to pass the Senate bill deeming the "deem and pass" tactic unnecessary to pass the bill.

» 3 comments

Rep. John Boehner: “This Health Care Bill Will Ruin Our Country”

by Drew Grant | 3:04 pm, Saturday

video

As news of the Democrats dropping the "deem and pass" in favor of separate votes in the Senate, the hours are inching closer to a time when we might have a conclusive health care reform bill passed in this country. At this point it's hard not to have an opinion about a bill that will require Americans to either buy health insurance (at government subsidized-prices) or pay for it on their taxes, but few have stronger words than Rep. John Boehner who has called the passing of the reform bill "Armageddon."

» more inside

More TV headlines: