From Billmon:
Fox News’s total audience fell 24 percent in the past year, to 1.3 million viewers from 1.7 million, and its key primetime audience, viewers ages 25-54, was down 7 percent in October on a year-to-year basis, to an average 363,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research data. In third quarter, Fox News suffered a 38 percent decline in 25-54s, to 409,000.
One explanation would be that Fox's mindless shilling for the Bush administration has finally turned off enough Democrats (21% of Dems polled in a June 2004 Pew survey listed Fox as their primary news source) and Independents (22%) that they're finally tuning out. Another, however, would be that Fox's trademark frantic flashing format and conservative ideological bias are both now the norm in the cable news universe -- giving viewers who wish to be ignorant and confused a much larger menu to choose from.
billmon.org |
