Fox Business beats CNBC in key demographic

Fox Business Network, which earlier this month posted its best-ever ratings due to the stock market turmoil, has now beaten rival CNBC in viewers in a key demographic.

The eight-year-old Fox Business scored Friday its first win in the 25- to 54-year-old demographic after dropping the Don Imus show in the 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. time slot.

Its “Mornings with Maria” show featuring Maria Bartiromo brought in 25,000 total viewers in the 25- to 54-year-old demographic, beating out CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” which averaged 24,000 demo viewers during the same time period, according to Nielsen data.

Fox Business changed its pre-market lineup earlier this year to focus on business news.

CNBC, which has argued that Nielsen doesn’t accurately record its viewership since many people are watching at the office, still won in total viewers with 132,000 vs. Fox Business Network’s 60,000 during the 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. time period.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.