Categories: OLD Media Moves

Porn, pot shows on CNBC garner the audiences, not AOL Time Warner

Peter Lauria of the New York Post writes Monday about the dismal performance of the CNBC documentary about the AOL-Time Warner breakup, especially compared to some of the other documentaries on the business news channel.

Lauria writes, “Proving the adage that the only people who think the media is interesting and glamorous are those who work there, CNBC’s latest original documentary, ‘Marriage from Hell: The Breakup of AOL Time Warner,’ garnered a measly 160,000 viewers during its premiere last week, according to The Nielsen Co.

“Those ratings, which rank among the lowest for a CNBC documentary, are dwarfed by the premiere night audience of 1.2 million for the network’s drug-focused documentary, ‘Marijuana Inc.,’ and the just under 500,000 viewers who checked out ‘Porn: Business of Pleasure.’

“Even search engines generated more interest: The premiere of ‘Inside the Mind of Google’ beat ‘Marriage from Hell’ more than twofold, attracting a total of 372,000 viewers.

“‘We could not overlook the 10-year anniversary of what has been described as the worst merger in the history of modern business dealmaking,’ a CNBC spokesperson said.”