Categories: OLD Media Moves

Three Fox Business shows beat CNBC competitors last week

Three separate shows on Fox Business Network bested CNBC last week for the first time, according to Nielsen Media Research data.

Nielsen has acknowledged that it can’t accurately measure CNBC’s audience, according to a letter it sent to the business network.

“Varney & Company” hosted by Stuart Varney beat CNBC for the week with 33,000 viewers in the 25- to 54-year-old demographic favored by advertisers vs. CNBC’s 32,000, according to Nielsen Media Research.

This is the first time ever the 9 a.m. to noon program topped rival CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” (9 a.m. to 11 a.m.) and “Squawk Alley” (11 a.m. to noon) for a week.

Additionally, Deirdre Bolton’s “Risk & Reward”, which airs at 5 p.m., scored its first weekly win over CNBC’s “Fast Money,” averaging 24,000 viewers in the 25 to 54 demographic to 21,000.

Meanwhile, “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” which airs at 7 p.m., recorded its seventh consecutive weekly win with 228,000 total viewers compared to 120,000 for CNBC’s “The Profit.”

Overall, Fox Business viewers during the 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. business day averaged 126,000 last week compared to 189,000 for CNBC.

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.