Can someone explain Cable News TV ratings?

[zaj]

I thought I had recently heard that while Fox News has the highest rated shows on TV, CNN's shows actually have more viewers. That seemed counter intuitive to me, can someone explain what the deal is there?

Am I just wrong? Or is there something misleading about Fox having the highest rated News Shows?

[LouKYDem]

1. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but I believe...

I believe CNN has more viewers than Fox News, but Fox News has more "loyal viewers" (in other words, the freepers that have nothing else to do but be told how to think all day long). Of course, CNN is becoming more and more of a right-wing clone everyday, we know that, but when there is an actual NEWS EVENT going on, CNN often beats Fox News in the ratings... Fox News only gets ratings from their loyal people that like to be told how to think.

[snippy]

2. Here is the explanation.

http://www.fair.org/extra/0404/fox-ratings.html

Fox News viewers watch it, and only it, all day long while CNN viewers watch for 30 or 60 minutes at a time. So during any given hour there are more people watching Fox but in a 24 hour period more people watch CNN. This is why it is more expensive to advertise on CNN than on Fox News. It also partially explains why Fox News viewers have been proven to be the most misinformed group of people in the country.

[UdoKier]

3. All cable news channels have very low ratings.

The ratings are in comparison to each other. The broadcast channels and non-news cable shows have much higher ratings, unless it's Sept. 11, 2001.