Media mavens have been chattering for years that traditional network news shows are on borrowed time because of the growing popularity of cable news programs. They may be
right. But the last time we checked, the dinosaurs were around for a few million years before they punched out, and the reality remains that the nets' audiences regularly dwarf
the size of any cable news audience. The highest ranked cable news channel garners only one-tenth the viewers of ABC World News Tonight, while PBS has significantly higher numbers
than Fox News Channel, according to Medialink Worldwide. To get a better grip on how network news shows stack up against their cable counterparts, PR NEWS asked Medialink
Worldwide to provide rankings from 6:00-8:00 p.m. EST -- prime time for evening news shows. All figures are from the last business quarter and are listed in actual viewers, via
Nielsen Media Research.
NETWORKS:
ABC World News Tonight- 11,454,000
NBC Nightly News- 11,285,00
CBS Evening News- 9,865,500
CABLE:
CNN
6PM- 892,100
6:30PM- 961,300
7PM- 1,112,120
7:30PM- 1,158,620
8PM- 995,000
CNBC
6PM- 197,500
6:30PM- 140,000
7-8PM- 173,430
8-9PM- 362,500
FOX NEWS CHANNEL
6-7PM- 1,380,530
7-8PM- 1,480,560
8-9PM- 1,111,500
MSNBC
6-7PM- 695,000
7-8PM- 893,900
8-9PM- 465,000
Bloomberg Business News -- 250,000
Nightly Business Report (PBS) -- 1,800,000
Source: Medialink Worldwide