5PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64)The numbers are striking. Bill O'Reilly often boasts on air about Fox's ratings dominance, but the data flash on screen so quickly that one might miss the significance of Fox's pummeling of the competition.
Glenn Beck– 2,610,000 viewers (704,000) (1,140,000)
Situation Room—761,000 viewers (143,000) (255,000)
Hardball w/ C. Matthews —548,000 viewers (142,000) (267,000)
Fast Money—151,000 viewers (a scratch w/32,000) (70,000)
Prime News–237,000 viewers (75,000) (100,000)
I note this now as I've just finished reading a fantasy essay at Firedoglake, "A Line in the Sand Against Beck":
Watching the Glenn Beck show this past month, one might have assumed that Van Jones had assaulted Beck, insulted his wife, and stolen his kids' lunch money. Beck devoted time on a whopping 16 shows to crafting a distorted, despicable portrait of Van that few who know him would recognize. As political smears go, it was as serious as it gets.Whoa! That's crack analysis! You think Beck really wants to derail Obama's progressive agenda? I'm shocked!
But make no mistake: this attack was not about Van Jones. Beck, in league with big business groups, is seeking to derail the President's progressive agenda, and taking out Van became the vehicle for undermining clean energy and green jobs.
But check this out:
There is no doubt that Glenn Beck has a big platform. But what supports his platform is advertising dollars, and that support is crumbling. To date, 62 companies have pulled their ads from Beck's show, including six new companies announced yesterday -- Aegon, Ashley Furniture, Humana, Luxottica Retail (parent of LensCrafters and Pearle Vision), United States Postal Service and Wyeth Consumer Healthcare. These aren't liberal activists wringing their hands over Beck's distortions. These are the bastions of American capitalism saying they don't want their brands associated with Glenn Beck's extremism. The only companies left are direct marketers (think Egg Genie and gold coins) and a handful of private companies headed by right-wingers.These numbers are being touted on the left as some kind of powerhouse indicator of progressive influence to shape the structure of cable news advertising. But the fact remains, not even the most socially progressive business concern will long forego a lucative advertising market. Glenn Beck's program is sheer dominance. And contrary to Firedoglake's fantasy that Beck's heading over to the "permanent fringe," the reality is that Van Jones' resignation was a major defeat for the administration; and with Congress back in session, political conflict is swinging back to full battle-stations mode. I'm betting Beck's numbers get even better as things move forward. Just today Obama-flunky Yosi Sergent was removed as communications director at the National Endowment of the Arts, and this is being chalked up as another win for Glenn Beck.
The exodus of major advertisers makes a powerful statement about how far Beck lies from the mainstream. Which is why it's so important to keep the heat on. Advertisers walking away for a week or two is one thing. But as weeks turn to months, and Beck becomes increasingly isolated, it renders his rants permanently fringe. Why would anyone (the White House or otherwise) respond to someone whose views are too toxic for any respectable corporation?
I hardly see how these developments indicate that Beck's "trying to change the subject." On Tuesday's show, Beck expressed humility: "'Don't Congratulate Me for Van Jones' Resignation'." Big wins combined with big modesty. Classy.
Plus, don't miss the piece from earlier this week, "Glenn Beck, The New Edward R. Murrow Of Fox News: Who’s The Next Target?"
The folks at Firedoglake and elsewhere are high if they think they're going to bring Glenn Beck down. The realities of the cable news market favor those programs putting up the big numbers. It's simple economics. On top of that, Beck's journalism is having an unrivaled impact on real-time politics and partisan power. Regular fans of Fox News clearly can't get enough.
8 comments:
I'm impressed with Beck's role in the Van Jones resignation. Perhaps now Beck will work to derail the appointments of others in the Obama administration, like Sonia Sotomayor and Cass Sunstein.
Congrats to Beck on his rising numbers--call me when you can win a national election with less than 3 million people.
The boycott is a joke. Advertising is all about making money. The more viewers Beck has, the more advertising dollars he'll pull in. It's simple.
A little OT, but John Stossel has finally bolted the Anal Butthead Communist network and will soon be joining Fox.
How cool is that?
I'm just surprised it hadn't happened sooner.
-Dave
Generally I try to limit the amount of time spent on politics and all its machinations, but anything that fires up the left to the point of boycotts gets my attention. Both my wife and I have joined the people who watch Beck, something we did not do before. I want to thank the left for bring this to our attention. Beck is doing the job that the MSM should have done. Another "buycott" as in the case of Whole Foods.
I would be very careful about any idea that Obama's election was more than it was because the numbers on generic ballots have reversed themselves. A few more poorly crafted campaign speeches like the one on healthcare with easily pointed out attendant inaccuracies, and the numbers will grow. When even MSM outlets begin to challenge Obama's facts then the political landscape is changing.
Ben JB,
Any mind that can throw so many disparate ideas together to form such poorly constructed conclusions might want to invest in a critical thinking course.
Speaking of critically thinking, I am amazed that anyone with functioning intellect could not instantly see through that speech has me wondering how far we have "dumbed " down education in this country, but I digress.
An aside: I just love this one. "So You Think You Can Dance" outdoes "So You Think You Can Lie" in the Nielsen ratings.
It is difficult for me to be nice to anyone who calls or infers that, names like racist, Hitler, et al because I have concerns about what happens politically in this country.
Hey Dennis, I would say the fact that ignorant people like Mr. beck have viewers at all speaks more to the "dumbed " down education in this country than the President Obama's speech. Actually why would someone that reads a neocon blog criticize a speech given by the president? Do you people not remember the good ole Bush's intellect and prowess with the spoken word? You people are funny. Sad but funny.
Dennis,
You may have missed my point: Donald here talks about the left's fantasy of influence over Beck's fortunes--sure Beck has fewer sponsors than he once did, but look at his ratings!
I merely pointed out Donald's own fantasy of influence: maybe Beck did play a role in getting Van Jones to withdraw from the government, but Beck and the right have had no luck with several other confirmations, most notably Sotomayor and most recently Sunstein.
Seriously: next time you watch Beck, a) look at who is advertising while he's on, and b) be serious about his success rate with all of his projects.
Murrow brought down bad people with the truth. Beck brings down good people with lies.
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