Ratings
There is a fairly clear long-term correlation between the performance of global stock markets and the audience ratings of CNBC. The network had a difficult time attracting viewers in the first half of the decade, but has seen viewership increase from a 2005 bottom to record highs in 2008, coinciding with the subprime mortgage crisis. CNBC continues to possess the wealthiest audience (in terms of average income) of any television channel in the United States.
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, CNBC's ratings were increasing sharply along with the stock market, often beating those of CNN during market hours. In 2000, daytime viewership of the network peaked at 343,000, around the time the Nasdaq Composite crossed 5000. However, when the dot-com bubble began to burst later that year, CNBC's viewing figures declined in tandem. The network's ratings steadily fell quarter after quarter, year after year, until bottoming in Q1 2005, with an average viewership of 134,000 during the day. From the bottom, the network, along with the markets, rebounded significantly—average daytime viewership (6 am to 6 pm) reached a 7-year high of 310,000 viewers in the first quarter of 2008. Coinciding with the extreme market volatility of the ongoing global economic crisis, ratings hit an all time high of 416,000 in Q3. Although the figures remain considerably less than those achieved by Fox News and CNN today, it has still had a 210% increase in viewership since the beginning of 2005. Despite the viewership slump at the turn of the decade, CNBC has remained extremely profitable: average annual revenues top $510 million while profits for the network exceeded $333 million in 2007, making CNBC a cash cow for NBC Universal and its parent company, Comcast. CNBC is the second most profitable of NBC Universal's thirteen cable channels in the United States, behind only the USA Network.
The network often sees large spikes in viewership on days of major market moves. In the week of 27 February 2007, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average had its seventh-largest loss ever, CNBC's continuing coverage of events resulted in its best ratings week since the market crash after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, with Kudlow & Company, Mad Money, and Fast Money recording their best ratings ever in the coveted 25-54 demographic. When the financial crisis wraecked havoc in the worldwide equity markets, CNBC recorded some of the highest ratings in the network's two-decade history. For the week ended September 19, 2008, the network averaged 502,000 viewers during the "business day" (defined by the network as 5 am to 7 pm). During this week, Squawk Box, Closing Bell, Fast Money, Mad Money and Kudlow & Company recorded their best viewership figures ever. On September 29, 2008, when the markets faced their worst single session performance since the crash of 1987, CNBC saw its best ratings day ever, with an average 726,000 viewers tuning into the network during the business day.
While daytime viewership has rebounded from its 2005 lows, primetime ratings remain weak relative to those of other news networks and CNBC continues to try and rejuvenate its evening lineup. Along with developing new program formats such as Fast Money and Mad Money, the network operates a "checkerboard" programming approach, airing various genres of shows including documentaries, town-hall style discussions and repeats of some NBC output.
When discussing the network's ratings, CNBC management and press releases regularly suggest that considerable viewership, particularly during the daytime, is done "out of home" in places such as offices and hotel rooms. As this demographic is not covered by Nielsen ratings, CNBC claims that the network's true viewership is considerably higher than what is measured.
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