Categories: OLD Media Moves

Market drops, and CNBC sees record viewers

Brian Stelter of The New York Times writes Thursday that the drop in the stock market earlier on Tuesday resulted in the highest number of viewers for business news network CNBC in the past six years.

Stelter wrote, “The business news network drew an average of 469,000 viewers between 5 a.m. and 7 p.m. (CNBCâ€™s definition of the ‘business day’) according to Nielsen Media Research. The channelâ€™s ratings had not risen so high since Sept. 17, 2001, the day the markets opened following 9/11, when 574,000 viewers were watching.

“CNBC, which hastens to note that much of its viewing occurs outside of Nielsenâ€™s home measurement area, drew an average of 281,000 viewers during the business day last month.

“Among 25- to 54-year-olds â€” the demographic that CNBC uses for advertising sales â€” the channel attracted an average of 126,000 viewers on Tuesday, its best performance since a market sell-off occurred in March 2007.”

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.