With Obama in White House, Fox News Scores Higher Ratings

SAN FRANCISCO
The RL Report
02-06-'09 1: 51 PM PST

FNC Ratings Soar as Obama Admin. Settles In...



A few weeks ago, in this space, I wondered aloud why the conservative media masses were 'screaming and yelling' about the new Obama administration. Most notably, even thier King, the esteemed one himself, Rush Limbaugh, who managed to 'kvetch enough anti-Obama vitriol, the new President mentioned his name, and made for Limbaugh's clout to become even more powerful.








Now we hear that FOX NEWS CHANNEL, part of Rupert Murdoch's NEWS CORP., has seen it's ratings go through the roof. Surprise. To put it more bluntly, had John McCain won the election, he would have most likely been labeled a pinhead by Bill O'Reilly.





So far, during prime time, (through Wednesday's ratings) FNC is averaging 2,495,000 Total viewers; well ahead of CNN's 1,254,000 and MSNBC's 984,000 combined. In the highly-coveted Adult-25-54 Demo, FNC is solidly #1 with 539,000, compared to CNN's 388,000 and MSNBC's 357,000. Overall viewership at FOX is up 23% from the same time a year ago.





Just this week alone, FNC's major cabler, Sean Hannity, has led off his show at 9 eastern with segments on the Obama stimulus program and the controversy surrounding the resignation of two key Obama cabinet officials regarding their income tax non-payment issues, notably ex-Senator Tom Daschle.





Little wonder that behind the scenes there is universal joy that only three weeks into the new Obama administration, FNC execs have de-facto programming segments already on the shelf and every Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Bill O'Reilly associate are practically giddy.





Makes you almost think that Keith Olbermann's celebrated "worst person in the world" could someday be the President himself.