CNBC documentary ratings decline

Peter Lauria of the New York Post writes Sunday about how the ratings for CNBC‘s documentaries have declined this winter.

Lauria writes, “Based on premiere-night ratings for the business network’s last 10 documentaries, CNBC averaged 332,000 total viewers and 155,000 viewers in the adult 25-54 demographic from Sept. 23 thru Dec. 16. Included among the documentaries to air during that time were ‘New Age of Wal-Mart,’ ‘Coca-Cola: The Real Story,’ and ‘Inside the Mind of Google.’

“But ratings began a precipitous decline with the Dec. 16 broadcast of ‘Illegal Gambling.’ That documentary and the four others to premiere since then, which include ‘Marriage from Hell: The AOL Time Warner Merger,’ and ‘Planet of the Apps,’ averaged a total audience of just 178,000 and only 75,000 viewers aged 25-54.

“Part of the reason for the decline has to do with the subject matter being covered, of course — Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola and Google are more broadly appealing than a compendium of business highlights from the last decade or the evolution of iPhone apps.

“Another factor has to do with budgets; the broader the topic, the bigger the budget. And a bigger budget generally equates to bigger ratings.”

Read more here.