• by Wayne Friedman , April 7, 2014

Cable TV news network brand perception has remained steady since the first of the year -- with Fox News still garnering the only positive overall results in consumer perception. YouGov BrandIndex Buzz -- which ranges from 100 to negative 100 -- tallied Fox News at a 5 or 6 score score most recently. The next best results go to Headline News, with a -6 number; CNN at a -8; and MSNBC at a -10.

A negative number means there is more negative feedback about the brand than positive.

YouGov BrandIndex says 35,000 people were interviewed for this research, with a margin of error of +/- 2%. Respondents are drawn from an online panel of more than two million individuals. None of the networks in this research are clients of YouGov BrandIndex.

Since December 2013/January 2014, three major U.S. TV cable news network brands -- Fox News, CNN, and Headline News -- moved sharply higher for a brief period, with Headline rising from a -8 to a -2; and CNN moving from a -8 to a -3. At the same time, Fox News rose from a 2 to just over a 6.

MSNBC was at the same level as CNN and Headline, with a -8, but moved in the other direction -- dipping just below -10 just after the first of the year.

In June of 2013 there was the biggest divergence of consumer perceptions about cable news brands, as CNN hit a low of -17; Headline News earned a -14; and MSNBC was at a -9, with Fox News just over an 8.