Fox News Has Lost 17% of Their Viewers in March
MSNBC, which has not been devoting as much time to the Republican primary, saw their viewership grow by 3% in March, even though their numbers with younger viewers fell by 3%. For the first quarter of 2012, MSNBC is up 1% overall, but down 6% with younger viewers. MSNBC also has two shows on the rise. Hardball was up 23% in March, and Politics Nation with Al Sharpton was up 32% over what Cenk Uygur did in the same time slot in March of 2011. (It looks like MSNBC made the right call on Uygur, and honestly, he is a much better fit on Current than he ever was at MSNBC).
The Republican primary is such a downer that it is hurting the ratings of the two networks who gave it the most coverage. The reason why Fox News stopped dedicating so much airtime to the GOP primary is that it was hurting their ratings. (Not even Republicans want to watch this stuff). It is also starting to look like CNN made another epically disastrous decision by climbing in to bed with the tea party. CNN’s shift to the right has been an epic failure. CNN gambled that GOP 2012 would be just as hot with viewers as the Obama/Clinton Democratic contest was in 2008.
The problem for those who were expecting a 2012 ratings boon is that Romney/Santorum has been the complete opposite of Obama/Clinton. The only thing that Mitt Romney’s gloom and doom, and Rick Santorum’s Old Testament revival tour have accomplished is the alienation of millions of voters.
The Obama/Clinton contest was unique because it not only got Barack Obama elected, it also rehabilitated Hillary Clinton’s image and turned her into one of the most popular political figures in the United States. It can be argued that both Obama and Clinton came out winners after the 2008 Democratic primary.
