• Ad Age, Wednesday, March 26, 2008 11:30 AM

Thanks to the bitter Democratic primary battle between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, cable news nets CNN and MSNBC are set to post record first quarters. High ratings have led to big ad-sales growth for the pair--and progressive viewers are increasingly driving the numbers.

A recent MediaVest study of over 1,000 voters finds that the more liberal end of the audience is far more into cable news this election season. "On the liberal side of the consumer base, there's a growing polarization" between Obama and Clinton's supporters, says John Spiropoulos, VP-group research director at MediaVest. "So there are more people tuning in over time when you look at the exit polls."

CNN is up 111% in the first quarter among adults 25 to 54. Fox News is still the overall ratings leader among viewers 25 and older and actually increased its ratings by 13% among adults 25 to 54 so far, but MSNBC is up 82%--a big move for a news net long considered a distant third.

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