Olbermann up 72%!

[Coexist]

"Countdown with Keith Olbermann" (8:00 – 9:00 pm ET) continues to rocket up the ratings charts, up 72% in total viewers over a year ago (701,000 v. 408,000) and up 43% in the adult demographic (217,000 v. 152,000). Both CNN and FOX dropped in total viewers at 8:00 p.m. with CNN down 25% (450,000 v. 604,000) and FOX down 3% (1,951,000 v. 2,009,000). "Countdown's" 24% share of the cable news audience was the time period's best performance since October 2001.

http://nbcumv.com/release_detail.nbc/msnbc-20070530000000-msnbcratingscontin.html

[AX10]

1. K & R!

[mzmolly]

2. Kickin for Keith!

:kick: ;)

[90-percent]

3. K-K & R-R

K-K & R-R.

KEITH POSITIVELY RAWKS!!!!1

If there's one thing we could all do to greatest effect, that would be to promote Keith watching in every interaction in our daily lives! That is, if you want to be patriotic!

-85% Jimmy

[LynneSin]

45. We can also support the sponsers of his show

That's the true sign of approval!

[uberllama42]

64. Yay capitalism

The best way to show my support for something is to buy stuff I saw on TV, whether I want it or not.

[Hissyspit]

4. The downside to that is to think of how many people weren't watching

as he covered stories of incredible import over the past several years!

Better late than never though!

[WI_DEM]

5. I still don't understand how FAUX does as well as they do

They still have more viewers than MSNBC and CNN combined according to that--though certainly the trends are moving in the right direction.

[youngdem]

6. Because HALF the population has an IQ lower than 100

:shrug:

[Pawel K]

21. The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Idol, 24: All great promotional tools for Fox News

Millions of people watch Fox locally for all those shows, so naturally they turn on fox news when watching cable news.

Also, there are a lot of cable/dish providers that offer Fox news but don't offer MSNBC and in some cases don't even offer CNN.

[valerief]

50. Those prolefeed Fox shows are great. It's the Faux Nooz that is totally twisted.

[Pawel K]

72. Absolutely. My point simply is that its an awesome marketing tool for fox news

[Clark2008]

25. I think they count all those waiting rooms that always broadcast them.

I don't know why, but nearly every waiting room - from the beauty shop to the auto mechanics to the dentist office - seems to want to subject their clients to Faux News.

I get up and change the channel, when I can. However, there isn't a button available to do so at the place where I change my oil (the TVs broken. Ironic, isn't it? LOL)

[Malikshah]

43. If I am correct-- Free TVs are sent to these sorts of places...and they are tied to Faux

I'd love to have the raw data on this--an expose if you will--but it would be great to find out.

[janetle]

52. I would love to have data on this, too.

[madamesilverspurs]

56. Adding insult to injury -- literally

Our local hospital provides televisions in patient rooms, but they're limited to the FOX packaging. They do this to people who are there to get well?!

[Malikshah]

62. So this all explains their "ratings"-- it's clear to me Fox donates TVs that only get Fox

or something along those lines. It's vile.

[spooky3]

68. I asked my dentist's ast. to switch the channel and she handed me the

remote. I switched it to CNN (not much better but was trying to be nice).

So at least one of those TVs gets other channels!

[janetle]

51. And Sports bars and hotels and airports in the West

It drives me nuts. We have found that many times in hotel or motel rooms in Montana and Washington and other parts of the west, FOXS is the only cable news channel available. At the Sheraton in Albuquerque, FOXS news was the default channel. I complained. Whoever masterminded this (Rove?)....well, they knew how to propagandize!

[sce56]

32. They are also pushed on unsuspecting ones like Military facilities!

Every time I would go to Trippler Army Med center in Hawaii while waiting to see the doctor or for medicine at the pharmacy Fox News was the channel on the waiting room TV. I would say at least 70% of military medical waiting rooms have Faux news on.

[klook]

33. My cable provider requires a high-cost plan to get MSNBC.

So the vast majority of their customers get Faux and don't even get MSNBC. If that's true around the country, it makes Olbermann's performance against O'Liely even more impressive.

[MADem]

59. There are a ton of reasons, some due to marketing, others to stupidity

They are in way more markets than MSNBC, CNBC, certainly, and often provided free

They're in hotels in many places where you can't get MSNBC (which irritates me no end)

You can even get them in some overseas locations--to include, of course, military installations--if that's not a gagger.

Their talking heads are a combination of loudmouths and known quantities who have audiences from other venues that they bring to the table--for example, Dildo Really has a lot of reach via the radio which carries his foolish radio show; Geraldo brought viewers from his chair-throwing, safecracking show; Greta Van Susteren dragged her massive audience over from CNN.

MSNBC tried to parrot that marketing-by-talemt-theft scheme when they snagged Rita Cosby; following CNN who did it with Paula Zahn. Funny, MSNBC's greatest "steal" from Faux is actually the undervalued but extraordinarily talented David Shuster, who was swiped from Faux, where he was saddled with the rather "unclean" responsibility of dogging Bill Clinton. Prior to that, he worked for an ABC affiliate and even earlier than that, for CNN. I think that the late and not uncontroversial Jerry Nachman was responsible for that 'get'--and it was certainly the best of the lot. That guy knows his turf. Because he doesn't make himself the story (a talent of good reporters) he might be underappreciated. They'd best not be cheap with that boy, though--when his contract is up, they need to throw more money at him, keep him, not let him stray, because he is worth his weight times ten in gold. He's certainly not at the point in his career where he is hubris-laden, and that makes him especially valued.

There's also the clever pairing that Faux does. Their Entertainment arm is liberal--Simpsons, Family Guy, edgy sitcoms, all of those hysterical 'Blue State' shows that the right foams at the mouth about. While they're raking it in sponsor-wise for those efforts, on the news end of things they're bellowing about nastiness on TV and acting as though they don't know what the other end is doing. It's quite clever, really. Make money on the left and the right, and give the right the sense that they really ARE "Fair and Balanced" because they criticize themselves! And all the while, ka-ching, ka-ching. And one more interesting thing about their news affiliates--their "over the air" stations, which are more liberal, also have a more liberal, "everyman" style of evening news broadcast. They don't pull that religious right crap, they're going after Sammy Lunchbox, the working man who likes a beer at night. It's Clintonesue triangulation at its finest--the liberals who watch the cartoons and edgy sitcoms, the Reagan Democrats who like the network news, and the mouth breathing religious-right wingnuts who suck up to the cable arm. "Something for everyone, a comedy, tonite!"

People also watch Faux for stupid reasons. These are pretty obvious if you tune in for five minutes.

* Pretty Colors, nice and bright. Oooooh!

* Lots of YELLING and emotion. Wowie, zowie! Zap, boom, slap, bang!!!!

* Red lips and big, big booooobies. Lotsa boobies. And blondes....so many blondes.

* Simplistic "See Dick run" (but NOT shoot) reporting. Short, easy sentences. Simple ideas. No nuance. Nothing to hurt anyone's head or cause them to question paradigms.

* If you can't hear what the talking heads are saying because you're too busy belting your kids or screaming at your spouse, you can always read it on the screen--big letters, simple words, too! A sixth grade education will do it!

[stanwyck]

69. It's the artificial "bulk buy" that also inflates the books

the right wing hatetalkers write. Scaife and Co. buy up huge amounts of the latest wingnut blather and warehouse the books as gifts. Really. The New York Times marks the "bulk buys" with a dagger. The numbers aren't individual sales. The books are bought in bulk by, yes, the rightwing conspiracy. It does exist. And it loves to throw dollars at duping the American public into believing that O'Reilly, Hannity, and Coulter write "best sellers". Yes. They're "best sellers" that few people actually read.
They want America to think conservatism is more accepted than it is.
Meanwhile, Hillary, Obama, and Gore actually sell books to, gasp, readers.
Fox does the same with their ratings. My father is in an assisted living facility. All the TVs are on Faux. So. The number of people in the facility (ncluding employees) are all counted as Faux viewers. Multiply that by a few thousand hospitals, retirement homes, etc. and you get the bulk buy.
Meanwhile, America thinks Faux really has more viewers than are actually...viewing. Being in the vicinity is enough. Up go the numbers. The gardening crew and cleaning folks get counted.
It's not reality that's important. It's how you spin it.

[janetle]

70. Wow!

And then all of the folks who are subjected to the propaganda 24/7 believe it. So they count all of the folks as viewers to boost numbers and brainwash them at the same time. Geez!

[AwakeAtLast]

7. Looks like we are not the only ones who like truthiness with our news

:) Way to go, Keith! :woohoo: :bounce: :woohoo:

[Bjorn Against]

8. But, but, but...

We all know there is no market for progressives on our airwaves, after all that is what Rush, Hannity, O'Reilly and all their friends have always told us. They couldn't possibly be wrong could they?

[patricia92243]

9. Why they don't have enough sense to apply that trend to am drive is beyond me.

People will watch liberal tv that is good - KO, Daily Show, Colbert. etc. hint, hint MS NBC

[bobbolink]

10. His rise will be slowed now that Com(#_)@*%#*!!Cast has taken off MSNBC!!

DAMN! I'm going into withdrawal......

:nuke:

I had turned so many people onto Keith who also got hooked, and now we're left out in the cold.

[Coexist]

11. did y'all write letters?

[bobbolink]

16. I can only speak for myself.

I can't get people to write for really important things, like the restoration of Medicaid cuts, so I don't try for the little things.

There are priorities.

[AndreaCG]

17. My aunt has satellite and doesn't have it either

But she has the water channel whatever the hell that is.

She doesn''t get Faux either, though.

[peaches2003]

63. Not sure what you mean

MSNBC is on digital Com&*^%$cast. If you were getting it on basic Com8&*(965cast it goes to digital when your area is upgraded. Is that what has happened where you are?

[bobbolink]

71. NO.

hAVE TO PAY MORE TO GET IT NOW.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

12. Good For Him. He Deserves It.

He's got a long way to go to catch billy boy, but I can't help feeling that in a few years he will do just that and have the ULTIMATE thing to shove down his throat! But in the meantime, these numbers are still awesome for him. Congrats Keith!

[davidwparker]

13. Bleed CNN. Bleed. You had a chance to go to the left as far as Fox is to

the right -- or at least be balanced -- and you have not. You've become pathetic.

Watch http://www.freespeech.org/fscm2/genx.php?name=home">FSTV.

[me b zola]

39. Free Speech TV is incredible

I finally found it on our Dish network about a year ago and am blowed away by the quality & diversity of programing. It was also the first time that I had ever watched Democracy Now! and that has been a light in very dark times.

[Dr.Phool]

41. I miss having Amy Goodman with my morning coffee.

But, I'd rather be ripped apart by grizzly bears than subscribe to Dish again. I think their customer service department is run by former Gitmo interrogators.

[davidwparker]

66. INN World Report and Liberty News is good too.

I'm glad there's another FSTV viewer here. Why people continue to watch propaganda when there's the FSTV and Link TV avenues is beyond me.

[me b zola]

73. I have almost completely stopped watching cnn or msnbc

I still click on them to see if they are carrying any news, but 99.9% of the time they are not (with the exception of Olbermann).

Still, I am drawn to see what the bobble-heads are talking about because it is their fiction that gets played out in our public square as if it were real. Propaganda? Yes! But when you have loved ones who are still caught in the loop it is helpful to know the crap that they are being fed while you have good journalism to refute the garbage that they are consuming.

[glowing]

14. I've been thinking they should schedule him for the 7:00pm slot.

His ratings would be even higher.

[Matsubara]

15. Uh-Oh, that's when MSNBC fires people...

Phil Donahue had the network's highest-rated show when they gave him the boot.


Don't get me wrong, I like Olbermann's on-air persona better than Donahue's, but it does make me wonder why they fired Donahue, after forcing him to have TWO condervatives for every lieral guest on his show, but they allow Olbermann to give a pretty much unchallenged progressive POV every night?

Was Donahue just a victim of wartime cowardice on the part of the network, or does Keith have the right connections?

[Pawel K]

19. Keith just signed a contract with them until 2011, he isn't going anywhere anytime soon!

[Bryan]

26. Keith says Donahue's problem was complicated

From his FireDogLake chat* last fall:

"Donahue was not cancelled because he was anti-war. I have no doubt that was A reason, but probably one of about ten. The show’s ratings fell and soared depending on how much it was advertised; the studio audience was a costly issue; his staff was twice the size of anybody else’s (or mine), and he was, at best, reluctant to adjust. I knew everybody involved in the process, and the Donahue-Was-Cancelled-Because-He-Was-A-Liberal story sounds great, but doesn’t reflect the complexities. Hell, we also killed off Michael Weiner Savage about five months later."

Of course, Keith may be dissembling to curry favor with his employer, but then, he doesn't seem to do that very often on any other topic...

*http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/11/05/fdl-book-salon-welcomes-keith-olbermann-2/

[Matsubara]

27. That sounds like a copout to me.

The fact is that Donahue's ratings, low as they were, were still the best ratings on low-rated MSNBC, and they were steadily going up -BECAUSE Donahue was the only program on cable news that even ALLOWED dissenting opinions at the time. The two-conservatives-for-every-liberal rule was real, and an MSNBC memorandum was leaked to the public saying

"that Donahue presented a ‘difficult public face for NBC in a time of war" and expressed that, in a time of war, Donahue's show might become "a home for the liberal antiwar agenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity."



http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/views03/0227-04.htm

Donahue's program was beating heavily-advertised "Hardball" when it was axed.

Yes, they axed Savage, but his ratings were dismal, even for MSNBC, and I don't think Donahue ever told a caller to "go choke on a sausage and die of AIDS"..., like Savage weiner did.



I don't know why Olbermann feels the need to defend the indefensible here. He must be more than aware that his company is at the head of line at the war-industry gravy train. It's great that he's using the outlet to put out a good message, but the number of instances where GE/NBC/MSNBC has silenced voices critical of the wars it helps foments, or the products it makes, are too numerous to count.

This video (banned after one showing on SNL) explains why GE does the things it does perfectly.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tIWjSGQKEJc

[jgraz]

18. We all need to send these ratings to the Dems in Congress

And show them how people react when someone actually stands up to * (as opposed to just pretending to).

[in_cog_ni_to]

20. K&R for KO...WTG, Keith!

:woohoo:

[joeunderdog]

22. How do THAT many people still watch Faux?

It's like watching a video of your worst most disasterous moments over and over. They have been embarrassingly wrong and hyperbolistic about everything, yet people still set their watch by them.

:wtf:

[Matsubara]

24. The 28 percenters need their daily dose of agitprop...

...if they don't have it, the hallucinogenic effect wears off and reality starts to seep in,, and there's nothing the 28 percenters hate more than reality.

[Mutineer]

29. His ratings are up 72% it doesn't meant that 28% aren't watching his show

Sadly, Fox News still has more than twice the number of viewers that Keith does. His ratings are just up 72% from what they were the same time last year. Fox still scores at least twice as many viewers as their nearest competitor.

[Matsubara]

37. 28% as in POS Bush's approval rating

nt

[Arugula Latte]

23. Congrats, Keith!

:toast:

CNN -- Your hopes lie with that racist creep Glenn Beck :rofl:

[Maraya1969]

28. And this when MSNBC is not a basic cable channel for many people

If the MSNBC folks would fix this strange problem they would take over the airwaves.

Think about it........Some cable companies make you pay extra to get MSNBC.

[BlooInBloo]

30. Fire Katie. Hire Keith.

[kiteinthewind]

31. K&R! nt

:kick:

[ellisonz]

34. Kick.

:kick:

[mvd]

35. Woohooo!

:bounce: :bounce:

And FAUX down again.

[krkaufman]

36. And that's with him still doing the silly bits ...

... from Keeping Tabs, to Oddball, to compulsory(?) coverage of American Idol.

Countdown's no dream broadcast, but he's among the best available.

[mwb970]

42. I wish Countdown were all politics, like Hardball.

I always cringe as we get past the bottom of the hour and into the Paris Hilton stories and endless video loops of idiots. The first 20-30 minutes is always great, but Hardball is great for an entire hour. Even Tucker devotes only about five minutes to fluff, and it is at the end of the show. (It's also often the best part of the show, Tucker being Tucker.)

[xxqqqzme]

55. Agree - I have sent numerous

complaints about the compulsory idol coverage - what network is that on? I usually start channel surfing right after 'the worst person in the world'.

[happygoluckytoyou]

38. CRAZY.....LIKE A FOX

while the conservative media repeats the lies of corporate and gop "cheap labor" media,
the TRUE AMERICANS hunger for the truth

as the 'owners' of the $ get more powerful, "radio free america" will become more popular

[Marr]

40. How is Glenn Beck doing? And how do you suppose his inevitable right-wing replacement will do?

In an environment of floundering fascist apologists, you'd think that Olbermann's success would spur a greater number of non-RNC talking point shows. I don't expect it.

[Obamarama]

44. And just remember....we liked Keith BEFORE it was cool to like Keith!

Are we trend-setters or what? :-)

[Supersedeas]

46. Do you get the message Corp Media whores...do you get the message!?!

[JenniferJuniper]

47. I hope in time this will have a snowball effect

I travel quite a bit throughout the US for business and can confirm that most hotels do not carry MSNBC (Court TV seems to often be the substitute) but they ALL carry Fox Noise. (I won't even mention airports - those of you who travel by air know what you are subjected to.) This is probably because Fox is always on the basic cable roster.

I think Olbermann's success has been largely word-of-mouth. I was at a luncheon last week with a group of 20 and 30 somethings who were talking about how much they enjoy Bill Maher. One of them, piped up and said "yeah, but Olbermann is on every night!" Most of them had not heard of Countdown, but after hearing a bit about the show, I suspect most of them went looking for it.

Let's hope the demand for MSNBC forces cable companies to start adding it more often to basic packages. With a large audience, Olbermann's integrity and honesty and humor could have a huge impact on political direction of this country. He's that important.

[Divine Discontent]

48. yay keith!

the only reason for fox viewership is the forced propoganda TV at bank DRIVE THRU lines (yes!!!!), doc offices, tire change, airports (all documented or witnessed) have a bunch of people brainwashed into watching them, but keith is gaining yet again!

www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable <<-- check it out, top '08 stuff

[MissMillie]

49. I saw Obermann in person last night... he's so great!

I'm glad that we here at DU are not the only ones to notice.

[PGHBOOGER]

58. There seems to be a demand for this type of programming...

So I'm wondering... We drove up to New England this past weekend. There are no longer Air America radio stations there - they have ALL been replaced by religious programming (except for the Ithaca, NY station, which is low wattage). This has happened in several markets where liberal programming should do well. Conspiracy - as in "control the media, control the message???" :wtf:

[blayne]

53. Thanks to DU for getting me turned on to Keith

It is now the highlight out of my evening news programs.

[EVDebs]

57. Love it ! Turn ON Tune IN Drop IN ! Dr Tim had it bass-ackwards ! nt

[ooglymoogly]

54. Happy, happy, joy, joy

KO is the only program except Will and Grace (over and over again) that I watch and the occasional movie. Sometimes I turn on the tely before KO so as not to miss him as I sometimes forget...Last night Tweety Birds' head blew up when a guest intimated that Raygun was a B actor which of course he was and in spades. Tweety literally foamed at the mouth with vitriol and spittle and trotted out a daytime TV drama staring B actor Raygun to prove he was not a B actor and saying the old B actor myth was only that, a myth...Geeeees.....Hay tweety your ignorance is showing...A television soap..what a joke. Ronalds only possible clame to the A list was the B tearjerker, in which he uttered the dying words "win one for Gypper..er Gipper" with violins woefully crying in the background and tugging at the heartstrings..and which he himself immortalized in campaign speeches.

[Sparkly]

60. Go, Keith!!!

:woohoo:

[greyghost]

61. O'Leilly is having a BAD day! K&R n/t

[swimmernsecretsea]

65. He deserves the success! WTG Keith!

Eloquent, forceful, intelligent, compassionate, and uh, handsome. So, I'm shallow. What of it?

PS: Can we please get a video podcast?

[spooky3]

67. Congratulations, Keith, and keep it going!