CNBC has best August in five years

Matthew Flamm of Crain’s New York Business writes Wednesday that business news cable network CNBC has had its best August in terms of ratings in the past five years.

Flamm wrote, “CNBC’s business day, which runs from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m., averaged 87,000 viewers in the channel’s target audience of adults 25 to 54 years old, according to Nielsen Media Research. That number marked a 50% improvement over last August.

“All of the daytime shows drew their biggest audiences since at least 2003, according to the channel. Erin Burnett’s ‘Street Signs,’ at 2 p.m., had the best August numbers in that time slot in nine years. Jim Cramer’s ‘Mad Money’ had its best August ever.

“CNBC, owned by NBC Universal, has been investing in new programming over the last year, but executives acknowledge that the deciding factor in the August ratings spike has been the volatile economy.

“‘This is a really big story,’ says senior vice president Jonathan Wald. ‘This is when we should shine.'”

Read more here. Here is CNBC’s release.