The Fox News audience is old and it's going to die soon.

[BurtWorm]

It's white and going to shrink soon. It needs to watch and hear the frothers it learns it's version of the news from, unlike the rest of us who retrieve our news for ourselves online. In short, Fox is fucked:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_08/025175.php


AN OLD, WHITE, TECH-AVERSE AUDIENCE.... A couple of weeks ago, data from Nielsen Media Research showed that Fox News' audience isn't especially diverse. While 20.7% of CNN's viewers are black, and MSNBC's numbers are similar, just 1.38% of Fox News' audience is black.

As it turns out, the Republican network's audience, while obviously larger and whiter than its rivals, is also much older.

In a survey released by analyst Steve Sternberg, Fox News has the oldest audience among fully distributed cable networks. The network's average viewer last season was 65 years old, according to Nielsen. Heck, it's viewers are even older than viewers of Hallmark Channel, Military Channel and Golf Channel.

Perhaps the reason viewers tend to leave Fox News on all day racking up hours of big Nielsen numbers is they can't actually change the channel?

(Ah, Fox News, you know we only kid you because you sort of set yourself up for it).

For comparison purposes, CNN's average audience is two years younger, and MSNBC's is six years younger.

On a related note, as impressive as Fox News' television ratings are, this doesn't translate to much of an online presence.

On the tube, Fox's ratings are so dominant that CNN is turning to prostitution-tarred former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer to revive its prime-time lineup. In fact, Fox host Bill O'Reilly recently suggested that rival news nets are all but irrelevant, saying, "If you want to know what's really happening in America, you have to come here." But with millions of Americans turning to the Web for more of their news on a more frequent and immediate basis, can that assessment actually be true?

Foxnews.com averages around 12 million or 13 million monthly unique users, according to Nielsen Online, rarely approaching the 35 million to 40 million uniques that leaders Yahoo News, MSNBC and CNN regularly deliver in aggregate.

There are competing explanations for this -- no, smart guy, it's not because Fox News viewers are illiterate -- but perhaps the strongest argument is "the difficulty in recreating an online version of Fox's trademark shoutcasting model, with blustery partisans and rhetorical melodrama."

Regardless, as a long-term strategy, Fox News is going to have to adjust. An old, white, tech-averse audience is delivering strong ratings now, but it's not a recipe for sustained success.

[trotsky]

1. Yeah but before it dies, it's going to be voting in more than a few elections.

Since FAUX and the Republican party are basically the same thing, they face the same problem: relevance in an increasingly multicultural society. Without a massive adjustment of their message, they WILL go extinct. But in the meantime, they both still have plenty of clout.

[BurtWorm]

This is, alas, true.

:toast:

[Bitwit1234]

26. But I read some where the children of the Fox crowd

are sick and tired of their elders. Against gays and lesbians, big government, repealing the Constitution, they are not going for it and leaving the republican party in droves. I wish I could remember where I read the article. Guess maybe the kids can see Thur the hate and prejudices of their parents.

[pwb]

2. In time, maybe not my time, but America will be progressive.

[Realityhack]

3. perhapse... but this is just the FOX audiance.

I don't think the extremist christian theocracy crowd is as old. And a lot of non-fox viewers manage to vote against progressive policy. I wish Fox were the only craptastical news outlet but it seems more like there are no good outlets. I am afraid the FUD would remain at a high water mark even if FOX disappeared tomorrow.

[BrklynLiberal]

4. Those are the very realities that scare the shit out of the repukes, the teapartiers, the racists.

They can lie and ignore reality all they want while blabbering on the media...but meanwhile..in the REAL world..out there...it goes on.

[Rhiannon12866]

5. Except for my brother...

When I went to see my mother the other day, I had to get out of there before my head exploded. My brother had Glenn BecKKK blaring from two rooms! x( :nuke:

[ejpoeta]

7. when my dad was in the hospital before he died my brother brought the radio

and had rush limbaugh on. now, to be fair, my dad loved listening to rush. it was all i could do though to not beat the crap out of the radio. i couldn't bear it.

[Rhiannon12866]

20. You have my sympathies. I've been there.

My mother listens to Rush, too, has since I can remember. Years ago, when I was riding with her, she'd have him on the radio in the car. I had no idea about politics back then, but I knew that I couldn't stand listening to him, considered jumping out... x( :pals:

[ejpoeta]

23. i remember my dad listening to paul harvey. i don't think he would have made me listen to rush

limbaugh. but then, i haven't ridden with him since college in the early 90s, so.... We also endured praying with a priest.... it was like the last rites. i am not religious, but i wasn't taking that away from him. as much as i didn't believe in his religion, when my uncle came down to make sure he accepted jesus christ i was ready to go. i would not allow his brothers to try to 'save' him. luckily the priest was there and diffused the situation. i am not going to go into it further. whatever my disagreements were with my father's ideas about things, i'll be damned if i would take it from him or allow anyone else to do that either.

[Rhiannon12866]

33. My Dad listened to Paul Harvey,too...

He always sat at the kitchen table on weekends, having coffee, reading the paper and listening to the radio. My Dad was a Republican, I think of the Goldwater variety, but he wasn't partisan or in your face about it, was kind to and friendly with everyone. :)

Years ago, when he was quite young, a group of visiting dignitaries came to our hometown of Saratoga Springs, NY, and the movers and shakers in the city, mayor, Chamber of Commerce, etc., had to show them the sights and entertain them. My Dad, thinking it was because he was the youngest, was assigned to a tiny older black lady with a speech impediment. He wasn't expecting to have a particularly entertaining day... :shrug:

Turns out that this lady was Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, LOL, and he found her to be entertaining, funny, and very, very smart. And it didn't matter that she was a Democrat, my Dad always thought of her fondly and became a lifelong admirer... :D



You did well to protect your Dad from those who wanted to impose their views on him. When my Dad got sick, I became protective of him, too... I do think it's possible to get along with those who have different beliefs, as long as they don't try to impose their views on you. That's my view of the extreme RW. They want to tell everybody else what to do... x(

Rhiannon :hi:

[PlanetBev]

22. I hate to think that Limbaugh was one of the last things he heard.

My dad died on December 14, 2009. The night before he died, he watched the 60 Minutes interview with Barach Obama from his hospital bed. If Pigboy had been on, I would have through the pee pee bag at the TV.

[ejpoeta]

6. i have family who aren't old who watch faux and listen to rush too.

and glen beck. yech. i wonder how much this having faux on in every friggin waiting room does for their numbers.

[maxsolomon]

31. yep, that's ALL of my cousins

Westside Cincinnati Catholics, safe in their little all-white suburban cocoons.

[OHdem10]

8. Thanks, for dissing the older citizens whom the Democratic

Party needs to depend on.

[BurtWorm]

9. They watch Fox News too?

:wtf:

[sufrommich]

13. There were some pretty disparaging remarks based on age

in that article, like saying they may be too old to change the channel. I don't think younger means smarter or older means less savvy politically. As an example, my sig line is my 73 year old mother's blog. I call her when I'm having computer troubles or don't understand how to do something on the computer. I don't like to see any one age group treated as if there is any real commonality based on age, there isn't.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

10. Hilarious thread title! Now if they could just get someone to read it out loud at Fox

maybe a subversive little secret lefty intern on their last day can put it on the crawl.

[BurtWorm]

11. It's based on a line Richard Pryor said to a clueless elderly lady in a Phil Donahue audience

who suggested he'd be more of a credit to his race (or something like that) if he didn't swear so much.

[Ezlivin]

12. I'll still be sad to see Mom and Dad go...

But the statistics are right and my parents watch Fox News almost exclusively. I don't know how many times my mother prefaces a conversation with "I know you don't like Glen Beck, but..."

Sad to say, but my parents are both racists and Fox News feeds that racism regularly. And they're Southern Baptists, so Beck's show really feels like "home" to them. Shudder.

They question none of what they hear and I'm the only one in the family that's able to shoot down some of the more bizarre claims. And that goddamned television is on all day and most of the night. The propaganda never stops at their house.

[BurtWorm]

14. I'm truly sorry for your pain.

:toast:

As I am for the pain of anyone who's family falls for Fox.

[Kalyke]

24. I'd hang up or walk away when she mentions Lonesome Rhodes' name.

You don't have to be rude or curse her, just let her know that you don't care to listen to what that idiot Beck has to say

I've had to do it before, too, trust me.

:hug:

[Donnachaidh]

15. you need to drive *outside* of New York before you make dumb predictions like this

Like drive through the heartland of the US, and Down South? Because they have a THRIVING, fairly young audience in the South. And yes, those areas of the country DO vote and count.

:eyes:

[BurtWorm]

16. I'm just looking at Fox's numbers.

They don't look good for Fox.

[damntexdem]

17. Going down the Fox hole?

;-)

[felix_numinous]

18. Then they'll have to put Fox TVs everywhere else

like on street corners, then claim 'everyone watches' them.

[Spike89]

19. Classic mistake with demographics

Assuming that those demographics are accurate is the first hurdle. The very fact that the group is so different from the baseline demographics means that the likelihood of outside factors affecting the survey is high. For instance, it is quite possible that because Fox's audience is older, they are more likely to be at home (retired) and have a landline when the survey is conducted. Maybe MSNBC viewers are much higher than the survey shows because they have cell phones and still work, thus they get under-counted.

The biggest mistake is the assumption that because the group they appeal to is an older demographic that it is destined to die off. The classic example is AARP--they have a very skewed demographic but of course as the boomers have hit the target age for AARP, it has been flourishing. The question is, as people age, are they likely to become more isolated, sedentary, and vulnerable to Fox's appeal?

[BurtWorm]

30. You're assuming cable TV will remain as influential over time, which is a big assumption.

The article notes that more and more younger people (and I think this is true) get their news from the internet. Fox does not translate well as an internet source.

[Spike89]

32. actually, I wasn't assuming any such thing

I was discussing the Fox News audience (Fox News could disappear today and the audience would remain) and simply pointing out the fallacy of assuming that because a group has "old" demographics it was diminishing or doomed. Although I happen to agree with you that the Internet is the choice for young people and it currently doesn't translate well, I think you are making two unfounded assumptions a) young people won't become more reliant on TV as they age and b) the Internet will always be as it is today or Fox/Fox-like organizations will never find a way to transfer their brand online.

Simply put, I see nothing in the OP that proves or even suggests that conservatives, blowhards, bigots, whatever you call 'em are going to go away. They are made fresh every day and a few were born while I was typing this.

[BurtWorm]

34. I never said bigots, blowhards etc. are going away. I said Fox is fucked.

Because their audience is dying. It doesn't mean there's no media for racists, blowhards, etc., and certainly doesn't mean they're going away.

[Spike89]

37. Yeah, but your OP title says their audience, not them

and once again, I don't believe that because their audience is old that you can assume that "Fox is fucked" because as one 90-year-old dies, someone else hits 60. Of course not all old people (I'm one, 52) become more conservative, but there is no data in your post showing that middle-aged people won't become old and turn on Fox News in roughly the same percentage their predecessors did.

In a few years, if the Geritol group of cranks that loves themselves some Fox News now is replaced by a bunch of old farts that prefer the Internet, I'm fairly certain Fox will find a way to gain a foothold. There is nothing inherently liberal about the Internet...sure, there are plenty of opposing viewpoints, but that is pretty much true with television. I think freepers amply demonstrate that willful ignorance and general fuck-hattishness isn't cured by having an Internet account.

[BurtWorm]

39. Again you're missing the point.

Fox News is a cable TV network. It doesn't translate to other media. When the Fox audience dies off, Fox dies off. Yes, something just as awful or worse will probably rise to take its place. But when polio was virtually eradicated, it was cause for celebration, wasn't it? People didn't say, yes, polio's gone, but there's still the rest of the diseases in the encyclopedia. One victory at a time, no?

[Spike89]

40. no, where does it show cable news dying?

Belive me, I'll be very happy when/if Fox News goes away, but I'm just saying that I don't see it happening any time soon.

[PlanetBev]

21. Fear not...

Soon, they'll be others to take their place.

Each generation ejects onto the planet a new supply of imbeciles.

[tilsammans]

25. Here in Northern NJ, Fox is on in every other business establishment

I've got to think it's more than just seniors who want it.

[rucky]

27. Wait 'til they try to reinvent themselves for a younger, hipper demographic.

That'll be tight, yo!

[DailyGrind51]

28. Why is it that all of those I know who watch FOX are younger than I am by a decade?

[RagAss]

29. Not soon enough.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

35. My parents are both 77 and watch MSNBC

It works both ways. :(

There are still many Roosevelt Democrats who's never watch that FAUX shit.

[Blue Owl]

36. Can I be on the death panels?

It would give me great pleasure to help pull the plug on that bogus outfit.

[scheming daemons]

38. Not soon enough n/t