What’s behind Fox Business gaining viewers

Mark Joyella of Forbes.com interviewed Fox Business Network president Brian Jones and its strategy for gaining viewers.

Joyella writes, “August’s ratings put FBN on track to win the third quarter, which would represent Fox’s eighth quarterly win in a row. The second quarter, which ended in June, included the first-ever victory for Mornings with Maria, hosted by Maria Bartiromo, who defected from CNBC to Fox in 2013. In beating CNBC’s marquee morning show, Squawk Box, for the first time, many saw it as the final surrender by CNBC of the core business viewing audience the network was created to serve nearly 30 years ago.

“‘The torch passed about a year ago when people understood the importance of tax policy and trade policy and economic and fiscal policy on their lives and on their wallet,’ Jones said. ‘CNBC still focuses on the individual stock and the individual company, and that doesn’t really affect that many individual lives.’

“Fox, in contrast, has from the start adopted a ‘Main Street over Wall Street’ philosophy, focusing on issues that impact family checkbooks and bank accounts — even using a device Fox producers call ‘the translator,’ an on-screen graphic that explains the meaning of a business term a guest may have used, and why it’s important.”

Read more here.