• by David Goetzl , August 6, 2007

As Fox Business Network preps for a fall launch and CNBC steels itself to maintain market share, a third player in the financial broadcast space, Bloomberg Television, is making a case that it offers advertisers the most upscale audience.

The network released results from a year-old Mendelsohn Affluent Survey last week, covering households in the U.S. with annual incomes of $85,000-plus. It showed that Bloomberg viewers have a higher median income than all cable networks, including CNBC.

The network offered similar results from 2007 MRI research that concluded Bloomberg viewers yield the highest average household and individual incomes among 88 measured networks.

Bloomberg, with distribution in seven languages, also made a play to assert its appeal among marketers looking to reach global business travelers and affluent professionals abroad. It said the recently released European Media & Marketing Survey places the network "as the first-choice business-and-financial news channel among Europe's "influential elite."

The survey showed that Bloomberg reaches more than 741,000 daily viewers, 70% more than any financial news channel with reach across Europe, according to the network.

NBC Universal offers a CNBC Europe version. Fox Business parent News Corp. is believed to be eager to launch its network in the U.S. and then expand globally, in line with similar plans for its new acquisition, The Wall Street Journal. Both Bloomberg and CNBC also have Asian versions.