CNBC's morning scratch problem

A lot has been written about CNBC’s drop in ratings in October when compared to the same time period a year ago. Some think it’s a big deal, while others don’t.

A more interesting angle to CNBC’s results, however, is to look at the performance of its top morning show, “Squawk Box,” which airs from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.

For the past month, the show has “scratched” 10 times — or 50 percent of the time — in the key demographic of viewers between the ages of 25 to 54. That means that it has failed to reach at least 52,000 viewers in the demographic in any of those 10 days. For the month, the show averaged 56,000 in the demographic, down 50 percent from the 112,000 it averaged in October 2008.

For comparison’s sake, “Squawk Box” has “scratched” a total of 36 times so far this year, or about 3.6 times each month and 17 percent of the shows.

According to Mediaite, the Imus show on Fox Business Network has been getting 9,000 in the same demographic, but overall is beating “Squawk Box” some days.