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'Daily News' EIC: Actually, I Have a...   Battle of the Blurb Whores: Peter Vs...
Jan 4 2008 11:21AM EST

Fox Biz Off to EXTREMELY Slow Start

What if they made a business-news channel and nobody came?

That's the scenario News Corp. is looking at right now with its new Fox Business Network. According to The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, Rupert Murdoch's latest pet project attracted, on average, a little more than 6,000 viewers during the daytime in its first two months.

Rival CNBC, with three times the distribution (90 million homes versus 30 million), drew 47 times the audience (283,000 viewers per weekday). The year that just finished was CNBC's best since either 2002 or 2003, depending on whether you're looking at the 25-54 demographic or total viewers, the network just announced.

Interestingly, per the Tribune, CNBC's audience is somewhat lower in primetime (234,000 viewers) than during the day, while Fox Business's audience swells to 15,000 in primetime.

Is Roger Ailes risking his reputation with a massive bellyflop? Or has he cemented his image as a genius by scamming up wall-to-wall coverage for a media outlet that, as far as viewers are concerned, barely exists?

I have no doubt Ailes will figure out a way to draw more eyeballs in the coming months. But, whatever spin Fox puts on it, it's hard to imagine they anticipated starting out with fewer spectators than the average high-school football game.

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