John Dempsey of Variety writes about how viewership at business news network CNBC is rising despite the slumping economy.
Dempsey writes, “The network is successfully fighting the conventional wisdom that when the economy is tanking all over the place — from skyrocketing oil and food prices to a credit crunch that’s causing mass layoffs at major investment banks — people turn away from business news, not wanting to be reminded that their stocks and bonds are shedding value with alarming speed.
“The advent of Jonathan Wald as CNBC’s senior VP of business news two years ago, responsible for riding herd on what the network calls its primetime (5 a.m. to 7 p.m.), was quickly followed by a Nielsen turnaround. CNBC’s overall numbers and viewership among its target 25-54 audience grew by double-digit percentages in both 2006 and 2007.
“Wald, high-powered and energetic, says, ‘People seem hungrier than ever to watch us to find out what’s going on in the economy.;
“He’s clearly pumped at being in charge of programming the key time periods on the second most profitable network (behind USA) in the NBC Universal portfolio.”
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