Broadcast Nets Missing Out On Trump Bump

Cable networks have figured out how to successfully capitalize on President Donald Trump, but viewership for NBC, ABC and CBS newscasts have declined as much as 14 percent this year among coveted younger viewers. According to Bloomberg, broadcasters’ strategy of offering a wider range of stories -- from human interest to health and local crime -- is falling flat with some viewers who have migrated to cable news for coverage of White House drama.

In recent years, cable news channels have narrowed their scopes to focus on politics, and that’s paying off in the ratings. CNN’s “The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer” and Fox News’s “Special Report With Bret Baier” -- which both air during the same hour as broadcast news on the east coast -- are up 36 percent and 24 percent among younger viewers this year, respectively. MSNBC, which just debuted a new show, “The Beat With Ari Melber” at that hour, ranked as the most-viewed network in all of cable for the first time on Aug. 16.

Cable also has the added advantage of being on 24 hours a day, while broadcasters are limited to just 23 minutes a night.

“The intensity and speed that news is happening helps cable a lot,” said Andrew Heyward, former president of CBS News. “You can’t afford to wait until 6:30 because seven incredible things have happened since you woke up in the morning.”

Since the start of the year, ABC’s “World News Tonight” has fallen 7 percent among 25-to-54-year-old viewers -- the demographic that advertisers care about most. NBC’s “Nightly News” is down 8 percent, while “CBS Evening News” declined 14 percent in the category.

To be fair, all of broadcast TV is hurting and the nightly news is actually holding up better than other offerings on CBS, NBC and ABC. Plus, their audiences still dwarf cable, with about 24 million viewers a night spread across the three networks. CNN, Fox News and MSNBC average about 5 million total viewers combined.

Read More Now