Why Did CNBCs Ratings Fall Off a Cliff?
CNBC’s ratings are down almost 30 percent year-over-year and almost 50 percent on some shows. Theories abound. Perhaps they’ve taken a PR hit by riding 2007’s bull market headfirst into the blazing inferno of 2008. Perhaps America’s protector laureate of populist range Rick Santelli actually makes viewers lurch for the volume control button. Or perhaps Jon Stewart’s celebrated undressing of manic stock maven Jim Cramer left a bad taste in people’s mouth. Whatever. I think Barry Ritholtz hits this right on the nose. It’s best to think of CNBC as more like the Weather Channel and less like NBC. Hurricanes, both Floridian and financial, bring viewers in torrents. We don’t watch market news for character development. News volatility trumps programming. Here’s Ritholtz: In my opinion, these ratings are more or less meaningless. They are not proof of bias or bad programming choices or other assertions. CNBC is a media venue that has surprisingly little control over its own fate. While networ
