The Missing 800-Pound Gorilla In Media; Fox News Beats ESPN -- October 13, 2014

Summary: the two most amazing data points from this story:

• FoxNews beats ESPN
• Rachel Maddow is the star over at MSNBC

This is a very, very interesting story: the theme of the story has to do with MSNBC in free-fall, having lost 21% of its viewers. Interestingly enough, The New York Times story also says Fox News has lost viewers over the past five years. What it neglected to say was this (for 3Q14):

Fox is also up 12% over this same quarter last year. MSNBC sunk a whopping 21%. 

The headline: leaning forward, MSNBC loses ground to CNN. 

Multiple other headlines were probably considered including this one: leaning forward, MSNBC went over the cliff.

Read the story. It's nothing but fascinating news. I don't get cable but I watch it when I travel. I am fascinated by Rachel Maddow. I am fascinated by the fact she is still on the air. She is a one-schtick comedienne. Obviously a huge cult following. Surfing through 84 cable networks, I don't think I have heard a full sentence from her  in the past year. The last time I listened to her, she was still blaming George Bush for something. Yeah, that's her schtick. That's it.

But read the article. Then do a word search. Yes, Fox News was barely mentioned; it was mentioned in passing. This is why:

Fox has little to worry about because its numbers so dwarf the others.

The story was not about CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News. It was about the race to the bottom, the fight for 2nd in a three-way race in which the leader is so far out in front, The New York Times sees little need to mention the network. Be that as it may, some takeaways:

Viewers leaving cable news:

• MSNBC: down 21% over the last five years
• CNN: down 13% over the last five years
• Fox News: down 13% over the last five years

Demographics, median age of viewers, uh-oh:

• MSNBC: 61 (up from 58 five years ago)
• CNN: 59 (down from 62 five years ago)
• Fox News: 68 (up from 65)

In freefall, and remember, Ms Maddow is the one bright star over at MSNBC:

During the third quarter, Ms. Maddow reached an average of 183,000 viewers in the audience component that most matters to MSNBC’s advertisers, viewers between the ages of 25 and 54, her lowest total since she started her show in 2008.

In freefall:

Rachel Maddow, the biggest star on the MSNBC cable network, just posted her lowest quarterly ratings results ever.

In freefall:

“Morning Joe,” MSNBC’s signature morning program, scored its second-lowest quarterly ratings, reaching an average of just 87,000 viewers in the key news demographic group.

Never got high enough to even get into freefall:

“Ronan Farrow Daily,” the network’s heavily promoted new afternoon show, which stars a 26-year-old Rhodes Scholar with a high-profile Hollywood lineage, has been largely a dud.

In freefall:

Though it has mostly happened quietly, which may be a comment on the cable network’s larger status in the media landscape, MSNBC has seen its ratings hit one of the deepest skids in its history, with the recently completed third quarter of 2014 generating some record lows.

And if you enjoy this stuff, here are all the numbers -- Fox News slaughters CNN, MSNBC; hits historic ratings milestone -- Breitbart.

For the third quarter of 2014, Fox News not only humiliated its leftwing cable news counterparts at CNN and MSNBC during the all-important primetime hours, Fox News also beat all of cable -- all hundred or so cable channels, including perennial winners ESPN and USA.

THR rightly describes this as a "historic cable ratings victory."

Here are the third quarter primetime numbers:

• FNC: 1,797,000 viewers, up 12 percent (313,000 adults 25-54, up 12 percent)
• CNN: 555,000 viewers, up 2 percent (186,000 adults 25-54, up 4 percent)
• MSNBC: 557,000 viewers, down 2 percent (150 adults 25-54, down 21 percent)
• HLN: 352,000 viewers, down 4 percent (120 adults 25-54, down 12 percent)

In total primteime viewers, Fox nearly doubled the leftwing CNN and MSNBC combined.

In demo viewers, Fox earned almost as many as CNN and MSNBC combined.

Fox is also up 12% over this same quarter last year. MSNBC sunk a whopping 21%.

While CNN increased its dismal ratings a mere 4% in the demo, that apparently didn't come from an increase in viewers for CNN's news programming. The jump came from the network's move away from news and towards reality programming.

In this case, Baby Boomer nostalgia: CNN, saw a rather unexpected series perched atop its own rankings. Documentary series The Sixties stands as CNN's most-watched show of the quarter, edging pasting Anderson Cooper with an average 650,000 viewers — 186,000 of them in the key demo.

Uh-oh.

I assume Chris Matthews still feels that tingle in his leg whenever he sees POTUS.