On eve of Larry King exit, CNN tries to paint happy face on record low ratings

The folks at CNN -- where Larry King will wrap up his talk show Thursday night after 25 years -- must be possessed of some crazy magic. How so? Well, it takes strange alchemy indeed to transform the network's worst year ever into ratings gold worthy of a news release.

In a bit of holiday sugar sprinkled in reporters' e-mail boxes Wednesday, CNN bragged that it reaches more than 96 million monthly viewers, the most of any cable news network. Ten million more than Fox News Channel, in fact, and 13 million more than MSNBC. This might lead a casual observer to think that CNN is No. 1, its programming plans are firing on all cylinders and its rivals are left choking on its dust.

But of course, that's not the case at all. CNN for the year to date is actually mired in third place in prime time, where the most lucrative advertising is, and is a distant No. 2 to Fox News in total-day ratings (1.1 million vs. 435,000 average). In fact, 2010 has been CNN's worst year since at least the launch of Fox News back in 1996. The network has shed more than one-third of its prime-time viewers, thanks to erosion in King's ratings and a disastrous start for the talk show "Parker Spitzer." And it is about to lose in prime time to MSNBC for the first time ever.

So how can CNN boast of reaching more viewers than Fox News or MSNBC? It has to do with the way Nielsen computes ratings. CNN is using what's known in the biz as a "reach figure" -- that is, not an average but rather an estimated figure of the total number of viewers who tune in for at least a few minutes. This type of metric favors CNN, which historically has done best with breaking news stories, where viewers flip on the channel to see what's happening and then quickly tune out. However, such a figure doesn't carry much weight with advertisers, because viewers who watch for six minutes and then leave aren't likely to see many commercials. And it's at best a misleading snapshot of what people are really watching.

A CNN spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

-- Scott Collins (Twitter: @scottcollinsLAT)

Photo: Larry King at the White House Correspondents Dinner in May. Credit: Olivier Douliery / Pool/EPA 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[beer]

People tune to CNN without thinking and the then turn to FOX when they realize what they have done!

ADIOS Larry, we have heard enough of your liberal talk! Dont ever come back!

[davegood673]

To paraphrase the late great Rodney Dangerfield, "I want a second opinion" "your ugly too".

[Mike Johnson]

Larry King is simply irrelevant today. He's forever winding down a show which has fewer viewers each week. He jumped the shark many years ago, somewhere around the time he interviewed Marlon Brando, and his gnawing reptilian appearance.

The softest interview in the business, has recently ceded to the most confused interviewer. The producers combine blood thirsty expose', with leftist comics, over exposed Oprah/Behar rejects, & the inevitable celebrity wake, which King actually does well. I don't blame King as much as the management of CNN for taking a show and a network down a ravine that the Ice Road Truckers would refuse. It's over, nobody watches CNN anymore.

[Anusia]

You can save a lot of sleeping pills by just tuning in the CNN. The worst programming and anchors ever, but I give it to them: they are better than MSLSD, at least.

[Mike]

I doubt they'll do much better with that ridiculous Brit.

[Dancing Scorpion]

One final thought: King may have left his fiery side, all his piss and vinegar, the core of his character, in the wreckage of his several marriages. After arguing his way out of the clutches of dumb-assed celebrity obsessed women, the studio may have been his only R&R refuge, at the end of the day. That would certainly explain, at least in part, his pathetic performance over the years. Adios Larry, have a root beer on me...

[laytonian]

Please, righties.

Learn to spell. If you were homeschooled, slap your mothers.

[Brian]

I see what's going on here. I bet this has to do with where the channels are located on cable systems. On my cable system CNN is 14 while MSNBC and Fox are in the 40's. I bet a lot of people flip through the lower channels. Maybe they stop at CNN for a minute and then move on. I can't imagine anyone tuning in to watch Larry King anymore or watch any of the other nonsense they show. I don't care about the other news channels either though. It's much easier to check the Web now for big news stories. Why wait for a cable channel to get around to the story you want to hear about?

[Puciret]

One of the worst pieces of crap to ever hit TV.... Only reason he made it was because of his ethnicity. Not entertaining...Not informative and Not ( I meant never ) relative.

[Gary]

As a gesture of respect, nursing home televisions will go dark for one minute before the final broadcast.

[Trevor]

You people are terrible. He has done a wonderful show over the years; one that has always been entertaining and informative. Don't patronize him on his last few days for some type of political gain. He himself never told of his stance on issues and interviewed people out of curiosity rather than to get something out of them. It has been a great show and people should show some respect for such a great man.

[John Dough]

Incredible how republicans have no heart and just writing bs comments here.
Fox watchers have no education. Too many of them in this country. Good luck Larry, enjoy your retirement. I am sure your retirement will be much better than those stupid poorly educated republican twits.

[Barry Fox]

Larry King has done the best interviews of any anchor in television history, you people are just too ignorant to appreciate. I am sure fox is more suitable for joe the plumber types anyway, so watch on.