CNBC's ratings down in January

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

The Financial Times has an interesting article Thursday about business news channel CNBC and its value to Comcast in its acquisition of parent NBC.

But the story ignored the channel’s recent ratings, which continue to decline.

During the business day of 5 a.m. to 7 p.m., CNBC’s total viewers are off 25 percent in January to 233,000, according to Nielsen Media Research. The time period is Dec. 28, 2009 to Jan. 25, 2010, the latest data available.

During the same time period, viewers in the key 25 to 54 age demographic are off 37 percent, down to 60,000.

The same trend exists during the 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. block as well, where CNBC’s viewership is down 34 percent to 183,000 total and down 27 percent to 83,000 in the 25 to 54 demographic.

The question that the FT article doesn’t ask, or answer, is this: Will CNBC continue to be able to make as much money, and charge high ad rates, if its viewership continues to decline?

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View Comments

Doug says:
January 28, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Surely someone who supposedly follows the business media would be well aware that January 2009 was when the Dow plunged over ONE THOUSAND POINTS in the span of 4 weeks.
That, coupled with the transition in government likely gave CNBC an inflated audience.
The FT article was fine; it's your analysis that's lacking.