According to Alex Weprin, CNN has recorded its lowest primetime audience in 10 years. Whilst things may not look that great on paper for CNN TV, CNN Digital continues to dominate. The release from CNN with a breakdown of the August numbers is below.

CNN Press Release: CNN TOPS MSNBC DURING THE DAYTIME (9A-5P) — MSNBC PLACES 4TH MOST HOURS; FNC AND MSNBC DECLINE BY DOUBLE DIGITS IN PRIMETIME COMPARED TO A YEAR AGO; FNC CONTINUES TO DECLINE EVERY HOUR SINCE JANUARY

CNN Digital No. 1 in Online News for 23 Months and Mobile News for 42 Months

TOTAL AUDIENCE

CNN: 93.3 million viewers
HLN: 84.6 million viewers
Fox News: 83.6 million viewers
MSNBC: 84.2 million viewers

CNN Digital: 35.7 million users
Fox News Digital: 15.6 million users
MSNBC Digital: 30.7 million users

*Based on Monthly Unique TV Viewers in August and Latest Monthly Digital Users (July)


In August, CNN topped MSNBC during the daytime (9am-5pm) in both total viewers and the key demo 25-54 and in total day (6am-6am) among total viewers. In head-to-head comparisons with MSNBC’s daytime non-opinion programming – CNN had a 66% advantage among total viewers (439k vs. 265k) and a 41% lead among adults 25-54 (117k vs. 83k). MSNBC placed fourth every hour during the daytime in the demo 25-54, except at 4p where they placed third behind CNN’s Rick’s List. Rick’s List topped MSNBC at both 3pm and at 4pm in the demo 25-54 – with CNN outperforming MSNBC Live (122k vs. 84k) and Dylan Ratigan (126k vs. 86k). In total day among total viewers, CNN had 381k vs. MSNBC’s 378k. CNN’s AC 360 also topped MSNBC in total viewers at 10p with 559k vs. 534k.

Compared to a year ago, FNC and MSNBC’s primetime audiences are both down by double digits among adults 25-54 — with The O’Reilly Factor dropping -26% (638k vs. 866k), Countdown with Keith Olbermann is down by -25% (263k vs. 350k); at 9pm Hannity (548k vs. 732k) and Rachel Maddow (230k vs. 308k) are both down by -25%; and at 10pm On the Record is off -24% (452k vs. 594k) and Countdown declined -16% (204k vs. 244k).

Both FNC’s news and non-news programs posted substantial audience loss when comparing August to their peak in January 2010, with the network’s audience dropping off by 19-36% every hour the in the demo 25-54. FNC’s non-news program Fox and Friends was down -19%, Your World with Cavuto was down -30%, Glenn Beck was off -32%, The O’Reilly Factor declined -36%, Hannity lost -31% of its audience and On the Record was down -30%. Other double-digit demo losses included the 9a hour (-29%), 10a (-30%), 11a (-28%), Noon (-25%), 1p (-21%), and 2p (-25%). Studio B with Shep Smith at 3pm, Special Report with B. Baier at 6p and Fox Report with Shep Smith at 7p were all down -30 % compared to January.


CNN Digital - Traffic

CNN Digital held its No. 1 position among ALL Global News and Current Event sites in several key metrics, beating sites such as MSNBC Digital, Yahoo! News and Fox News Digital.

* No. 1 in Total Usage Minutes: 797 million minutes, 250 million more than No. 2 Yahoo! News and 313 million more than No. 3 MSNBC Digital.

* No. 1 in Time Per Person: 22.3 minutes, the highest time spent among the top 20 News and Information sites, 41% greater than MSNBC Digital (15.8 minutes) and 12% greater than Fox News Digital (20 minutes). (Source: Nielsen Online Netview, July 2010).
* No. 1 in Page Views: 1.2 billion page views, 86% ahead of No. 2 Yahoo! News and 118% more than No. 3 MSNBC Digital. (Source: Nielsen Online Netview, July 2010).

No. 1 in Audience among all TV News Sites: When compared to its TV News competition, CNN Digital topped them all in terms of unique audience. With 36 million unique visitors in July, CNN Digital’s audience was 16% larger than MSNBC Digital (31 million); 129% larger than Fox News Digital (16 million); 206% larger than ABC News Digital (12 million) and 315% larger than CBS Digital (9 million). (Source: Nielsen Online Netview, July 2010)


CNN Digital - Video

CNN Digital is No. 1 among ALL News and Information Properties in video for July.

* No. 1 in Video Streams: 112 million streams, beating No. 2 MSNBC Digital by 4 million streams and No. 3 Yahoo! News by 28 million streams. (Source: Nielsen VideoCensus, StreamCensus Global, July 2010.)
* No. 1 in Streams Per Visitor: 11 streams per visitor, more than any other property in the Top 20 of the News and Information category based on reach. (Source: Nielsen Online VideoCensus, July 2010.)


CNN Digital - Mobile

CNN Digital is No. 1 in Mobile in News and Current Events for the 42nd consecutive month.

With 15 million unique visitors to its mobile site in June, an increase of 29% over last June, CNN Digital beat the nearest competitor, Fox News Digital, by 66%. (Source: Nielsen Mobile MediaView – June 2010)