Aside from all of the portentous pronouncements that this year's presidential election "is the most important of our lifetime" (where have we heard that before? Well, every
other election since we broke from the British), there were a few developments that PR pros definitely need to take note of.
Foremost among them is how Web logs--or blogs--have emerged as a potent media force (bloggers were the first to point out significant errors in the CBS News report about
President Bush's National Guard records) and how cable news smoked the networks during last summer's coverage of the political conventions (mostly by default, however, since the
nets devoted just a couple of hours a night to the proceedings).
Still, it'll be interesting to see if any new media trends emerge from the last week of the campaign, when everything shifts into warp speed, and most Americans hunker down
with their TVs to watch the election returns.
As the charts below indicate, cable edges out the nets among all political affiliations. Of course, cable is 24/7 while the network news runs periodically throughout the day.
The target population for each category is the total of persons who identify themselves as Democrat, Republican or Independent.
TV viewing habits by political affiliation
| Target populations | |
|---|---|
| Democrat |
63,251,320
|
| Republican |
61,034,945
|
| Independent |
20,254,110
|
| Independent | ||
|---|---|---|
| Profile ranked by percentage target | % of Target | Target Persons |
| CABLE: M-S 6AM-2AM |
73.70%
|
14,926,545
|
| NBC: M-S 6AM-2AM |
61.70%
|
12,491,025
|
| CBS: M-S 6AM-2AM |
58.80%
|
11,912,330
|
| ABC: M-S 6AM-2AM |
57.30%
|
11,599,680
|
| FOX: M-S 6AM-2AM |
44.00%
|
8,915,970
|
| CNN (week) |
32.00%
|
6,477,000
|
| FOX News Channel (week) |
21.70%
|
4,387,825
|
| CNN Headline News (week) |
20.90%
|
4,228,045
|
| PBS: M-S 6AM-2AM |
20.50%
|
4,157,955
|
| CNBC (week) |
15.40%
|
3,120,515
|
| MSNBC (week) |
13.70%
|
2,779,825
|
| Univision: M-S 6AM-2AM |
3.20%
|
645,035
|
| Telemundo: M-S 6AM-2AM |
1.90%
|
377,025
|
| Democrats | ||
|---|---|---|
| Profile ranked by percentage target | % of Target | Target Persons |
| CABLE: M-S 6AM-2AM |
72.40%
|
45,814,430
|
| NBC: M-S 6AM-2AM |
62.90%
|
39,790,855
|
| CBS: M-S 6AM-2AM |
62.80%
|
39,699,360
|
| ABC: M-S 6AM-2AM |
60.40%
|
38,181,105
|
| FOX: M-S 6AM-2AM |
46.50%
|
29,394,025
|
| CNN (week) |
35.60%
|
22,518,920
|
| FOX News Channel (week) |
23.60%
|
14,898,425
|
| CNN Headline News (week) |
22.70%
|
14,385,565
|
| PBS: M-S 6AM-2AM |
21.30%
|
13,448,525
|
| CNBC (week) |
16.30%
|
10,327,270
|
| MSNBC (week) |
14.20%
|
8,999,395
|
| Univision: M-S 6AM-2AM |
4.10%
|
2,604,875
|
| Telemundo: M-S 6AM-2AM |
2.60%
|
1,628,280
|
| Republican | ||
|---|---|---|
| Profile ranked by percentage target | % of Target | Target Persons |
| CABLE: M-S 6AM-2AM |
75.00%
|
45,788,095
|
| NBC: M-S 6AM-2AM |
63.60%
|
38,822,315
|
| CBS: M-S 6AM-2AM |
63.20%
|
38,550,580
|
| ABC: M-S 6AM-2AM |
58.80%
|
35,890,420
|
| FOX: M-S 6AM-2AM |
43.40%
|
26,506,525
|
| CNN (week) |
34.70%
|
21,187,360
|
| FOX News Channel (week) |
31.60%
|
19,311,480
|
| CNN Headline News (week) |
22.60%
|
13,769,470
|
| PBS: M-S 6AM-2AM |
20.70%
|
12,664,460
|
| CNBC (week) |
19.00%
|
11,601,495
|
| MSNBC (week) |
16.10%
|
9,813,790
|
| Univision: M-S 6AM-2AM |
1.80%
|
1,117,600
|
| Telemundo: M-S 6AM-2AM |
1.20%
|
705,950
|
Top 10 radio formats listened to by political party
| Independent | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Profile ranked by percentage of target | % of Target | Target Persons | |
|
1
|
Country |
22.20%
|
4,498,225
|
|
2
|
News/Talk/Information |
20.00%
|
4,052,865
|
|
3
|
Adult Contemporary |
16.30%
|
3,298,740
|
|
4
|
Pop Contemporary Hit Radio |
16.10%
|
3,261,315
|
|
5
|
Classic Rock |
13.90%
|
2,810,260
|
|
6
|
Oldies |
13.30%
|
2,699,075
|
|
7
|
Hot AC |
11.30%
|
2,294,550
|
|
8
|
Alternative |
9.90%
|
2,014,330
|
|
9
|
Album Oriented Rock |
7.90%
|
1,594,395
|
|
10
|
Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio |
7.60%
|
1,538,825
|
| Democrat | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Profile ranked by percentage of target | % of Target | Target Persons | |
|
1
|
Country |
18.10%
|
11,457,315
|
|
2
|
News/Talk/Information |
17.10%
|
10,816,360
|
|
3
|
Adult Contemporary |
15.20%
|
9,599,305
|
|
4
|
Pop Contemporary Hit Radio |
14.50%
|
9,150,975
|
|
5
|
Oldies |
11.60%
|
7,346,590
|
|
6
|
Urban Contemporary |
10.80%
|
6,804,775
|
|
7
|
Classic Rock |
9.60%
|
6,040,980
|
|
8
|
Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio |
8.50%
|
5,373,120
|
|
9
|
Hot AC |
8.00%
|
5,056,500
|
|
10
|
Urban AC |
6.90%
|
4,380,885
|
| Republican | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Profile ranked by percentage of target | % of Target | Target Persons | |
|
1
|
News/Talk/Information |
25.10%
|
15,326,855
|
|
2
|
Country |
23.40%
|
14,264,900
|
|
3
|
Adult Contemporary |
15.30%
|
9,323,775
|
|
4
|
Pop Contemporary Hit Radio |
14.60%
|
8,930,690
|
|
5
|
Classic Rock |
13.10%
|
8,000,390
|
|
6
|
Oldies |
12.90%
|
7,871,225
|
|
7
|
Hot AC |
9.70%
|
5,926,300
|
|
8
|
Alternative |
8.40%
|
5,106,275
|
|
9
|
Album Oriented Rock |
6.40%
|
3,908,575
|
|
10
|
All Sports |
6.10%
|
3,728,460
|