The cable network news wars saw no seismic change in the first quarter of 2004, although the No. 3-rated MSNBC posted noticeable growth compared to the final three months of last year.
All the nets were down dramatically compared to Q1 of 2003, when the Iraq war drove up the appetite for news.
Leader Fox News Channel was down the least in Q1 2004, seeing a 36% decline in total viewers (2.2 million) compared to the same period last year. CNN was down 48% (1.6 million), while MSNBC was down 50% (666,000), according to Nielsen Media Research.
In the key news demo of adults 25-54, Fox was down 51% in the demo (699,000) compared to the same quarter last year; CNN was down 60% (482,000); and MSNBC, 61% (293,000).
Saying it was more appropriate to compare Q1 2004 with Q4 2003, MSNBC noted that it and Fox News were both up a healthy 14% in total viewers in primetime, while CNN was flat. Fox was up 6% in adults 25-54, while MSNBC was up 4%. CNN was down 9% in the demo, according to Nielsen.
CNN's competish points out that in comparing Q1 2004 to the Q4 2003, CNN failed to see a bump despite the heated 2004 presidential contest.
CNN did claim one minor victory in narrowly beating out Fox News in its Super Tuesday primary coverage, delivering 1.169 million viewers in primetime, while Fox News delivered 1.141 million viewers.
Overall, though, Fox News dominated election coverage in Q1 2004.
CNN also said that the 7 p.m. "Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees" and 8 p.m. "Paula Zahn Now" showed gains in Q1 2004 compared to last fall.
Contact Pamela McClintock at
pamela.mcclintock@variety.com