National TV News Gains Viewers
- by Wayne Friedman , December 12, 2017
National TV news is the only programming segment to continue to show viewing gains in 2017.
Through 50 weeks of this year, overall national TV news is up 5% on a Nielsen live-plus-same-day basis among total viewers versus a year ago --
which included a presidential election -- according to Pivotal Research Group.
The big three cable TV networks -- Fox News Channel, MSNBC, and CNN -- continue to make up
the bulk of this rise, 15% higher this year versus last year. News programming for the big three broadcast networks dipped 8%.
During the most recent week ending December 10, overall national TV news viewing rose by 10% versus the same week a year ago.
All 21st Century Fox news programming,
including Fox News Channel, now has a 30% share of total news viewing -- the same result as a year ago. NBCUniversal, including MSNBC, also has a 30% share of total new viewing -- up from 27% a year
ago. Time Warner, with CNN, has slipped slightly -- to 20% from 21%.
Viewing shares are down at CBS and ABC, each falling to 8% share from 10% shares.
Brian Wieser, senior research analyst at Pivotal, writes: “During a year when most TV viewing is declining significantly, the genre represents a key area of growth for the
industry.”
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