An appetite for biz/econ news in Sunday

Kate O’Hare of Breitbart.com examines the performance of Maria Bartiromo since she joined Fox Business Network earlier this year.

O’Hare writes, “Ailes obviously had faith in Bartiromo’s abilities, and that faith had to endure a weak ratings debut on Feb. 24 for her FBN daily show. Her Sunday-morning show on FNC ,which debuted March 30, is faring better.

“In July, per Nielsen Media Research, it topped the cable-news ratings for its time slot, averaging 807,000 total viewers, and 207,000 viewers in the coveted Adults 25-54 demographic. Since its first full month on the air, Sunday Morning Futures has stayed stable in total viewers but has increased the A25-54 segment by 9 percent.

“For context, for July 31st, the primetime content at FBN itself had only 6,000 viewers in that demo (out of a total viewership of 57,000), while top-rated (by far) FNC had 370,000 (of 2.22 million).

“Viewers of both cable news and business channels tend to skew older, so getting younger viewers is an ongoing challenge. But with the dip in jobs, we may also be seeing a rise in entrepreneurship, both among seasoned workers and those new to the workforce.

“‘We’re bringing in a great demo [on FNC],’ says Bartiromo, ‘so that tells me that there’s an appetite for business and economic conversation on a Sunday. … After the 2008 financial collapse and all of these white-collar jobs going away, people recognize that there are not the opportunities that you thought there were in business. People are saying, ‘You know what, I want to try something on my own.'”

Read more here.