2004 Annual Report - Network TV Audience

When it comes to audiences of network news, the headlines are generally grim. Only one or two programs are increasing their audiences. For most, flat ratings are a victory. The networks are showing no real signs of innovation or of creating genuinely new kinds of news programming that might win new audiences. The lone exception is morning television news, which saw an upturn in 2003.

Some points:

• The three nightly newscasts have seen ratings decline by 34 percent in the past decade, nearly 44 percent since 1980, and 59 percent from their peak in 1969.¹

• The war offered the nightly news little bump in viewership in contrast with past major news events.²

• Morning news is the one relative bright spots for the networks, with audiences holding steady rather than declining over the past 10 years. It had an increase in audience size in 2003 and in 2000 as well.³

• The best evidence suggests it is availability, rather than content, that is hurting evening news, but there seems little opportunity to change that.