fox business network at Brave New Films

Five Reasons Why Only 6,300 Viewers Watch FOX Business Network

2008-07-26T18:28:28Z

Liza Featherstone at mediachannel.org has an excellent article explaining why FOX Business Network, despite the backing of the biggest, most powerful media conglomerate in history, has only managed to get a shockingly miniscule 6,300 viewers a day despite penetration into 30 million homes. These are the five main reasons I found:

Reason #1: Despite their alleged goal of providing financial information for the average middle-American viewer, they don’t.

Other matters of interest to Middle America—but not to most conservative pundits—include the widening income inequality and the rising cost of college education and health care; none of these gets much attention on FBN either. And while Main Street is increasingly interested in the growing “green” opportunities for small entrepreneurs, on this issue Fox populism sometimes shades into know-nothing-ism; anchor Cheryl Casone routinely objects to alternative energy with this insight: “The problem is that sometimes the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine.” –snip-

What’s really missing from Fox is, oddly, the actual perspective and experience of the average Joe, to whom extensive lip service is given on air. –snip-

We don’t meet—or hear the voices of—people losing their homes in foreclosure, telecom workers losing their jobs, small-business people struggling with health-care costs. We never even meet FBN’s favorite protagonist: the consumer trying to make ends meet.

Reason #2: FBN takes ridiculous pains to be relentlessly upbeat on the economy when reality dictates the opposite.

One of the weirdest things about Fox Business Network—and potentially most alienating to an economically anxious middle-class audience—is its relentless effort to squeeze upbeat news out of a terrible economy.

The housing market isn’t bad everywhere, commentators agreed one morning. “On the plane, I sat next to this woman whose boyfriend is in real estate in Kansas City,” one analyst, a regular on FBN’s morning show, offered, “and he’s doing really well!” A few days later, another “expert” countered a discouraging retail-sales number with this observation: “Anecdotally, I go to the store and people are still buying stuff.”

Reason #3: To remain relentlessly upbeat about the economy, FBN lies like dogs at a rug convention.

Fox Business Network Hiding in Australia at Midnight

2008-01-12T20:49:12Z

The Fox Business Network may only be in 30 million U.S. homes (adding Detroit and Chicago this week), but you can see the channel if you're down under, in the middle of the night. A TVNewser tipster tells us News Corp.'s Sky News launched a business channel in Australia and during the overnight hours, FBN is simulcast.

Next they'll be piping it in free to nursing homes and prisons to get those hits up!!! Good luck FBN, I'm looking forward to many more lackluster months to make fun of.

FOX Business Network Tanks With Just 6,300 Viewers A Day

2008-07-09T15:34:11Z

FOX Business Network promised to bring "fun" to investing when it launched back in October. But according to FBN's ratings, their idea of "fun" looks more like a game of solitaire.

According to early estimates by Nielsen Media Research, FBN averaged approximately 6,300 viewers a day in its first two months. A DAY! In contrast, Brave New Films had 15,000 total viewers during our live Iowa caucus coverage, and that's without the millions FBN spends for ads. In fact, FBN's numbers are so abysmally low that Nielson barely acknowledges them. From the NY Times:

While Nielsen, at the network’s request, has measured the viewership of Fox Business since its premiere, Nielsen is not permitted to release or even confirm those figures publicly. That is because they are so low as to fall below Nielsen’s minimum standards for reporting, said Gary Holmes, a Nielsen spokesman.

FBN and CNBC have both paid to receive FBN's weekly ratings reports, so you can probably guess who leaked those embarrassing numbers. So is this a case of a scrappy startup struggling to find its audience? Hardly. FBN isn't a startup as much as it is a sequel or a spinoff, with FOX "star" Neil Cavuto playing the role of post-"Friends" Joey Tribbiani. And it's not like FBN emerged in obscurity:

Few new channels have been able to draw on the vast promotional resources that are at the disposal of Fox Business, which is part of the News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch’s $70 billion global media empire. (CNBC is a unit of NBC Universal, which is a part of General Electric.)

In an advertising campaign that has sprawled across television screens, billboards and magazine pages, the News Corporation has sought to hitch the fortunes of Fox Business directly to Fox News Channel, which draws millions of viewers a day.

FBN's ratings are about 2% of what CNBC receives, though CNBC is shown in three times more homes than FBN. But my feeling is that FBN's feeble numbers have more to do with concept than startup pains.

Perkyperkyperky!!!!

2008-01-12T20:28:04Z

The New York Times has this little headline:

A Perky Debut for the Fox Business Network

This is the whole post. I just had to share with you that someone referred to Fox as "perky".

You know, like Katie Couric. Perky.

Fox Biz Net is...perky!!!

What next: Faux News being called "chipper"?

Buh-bye now! Toodles!!