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Media World: Will Fox Business Network stay a flop?

Posted Jul 29th 2008 12:17PM by Jonathan Berr
Filed under: Competitive strategy, General Electric (GE), News Corp'B' (NWS), Media World

Fox Business Network is a flop -- for now.

The News Corp. (NYSE: NWS)-owned cable channel is averaging just 8,000 viewers during the day and 20,000 during prime time, well under the 284,000 viewers who watch CNBC during the day and 191,000 who watch the General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) network during prime time, according to The Washington Post.

Basically, Fox could attract as big of an audience yelling the news through a megaphone in the middle of New York City's Time Square. The poor performance is not a shock. CNBC has a huge advantage in terms of brand recognition and getting people to change their media habits is difficult even under the best of circumstances. Moreover, during periods of economic uncertainty people want to stick with tried and true sources of information rather than something new.

By the way, I am rooting for Fox to succeed. CNBC could use a kick in the pants. The network is so full of itself sometimes that it's painful to watch. Fox, though, has yet to knock CNBC off its high horse.

The launch of Fox Business Network came last year just as confidence in the underlying economy began to buckle. Advertisers, particularly those in financial services, are likely going to cut back on their advertising spending. They probably are reducing their spending on CNBC and shifting their resources online. If you want proof of this, check out some of the cheesy spots that run on the network during the daytime.

"The Fox numbers are a modest improvement over the ratings that leaked late last fall, which had the network averaging 6,000 daytime viewers and 15,000 at night," the paper said.

CNBC management, though, should not get too cocky. News Corp honcho Rupert Murdoch is a patient man. He is willing to spend millions of dollars and wait years to get a return on his investment in Fox Business Network. The channel, like the New York Post newspaper, exists for Murdoch to prove that he can stick it to the mainstream media.

Tags: cnbc, fox business network, fox business news, FoxBusinessNetwork, FoxBusinessNews, ge, inthenews, nws

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