http://mediamatters.org/blog/201005180006It's getting difficult to even remember when Beck's show was averaging three million viewers each night, even though that was just four short months ago. These days, Glenn Beck is more likely to draw two million viewers, which means that yes, the Fox News host has lost one-third of his audience already this year.
Not only that, but there are increasingly days where Beck no longer hits the two million mark. Like on April 9, when, according to Nielsen data, the show drew 1.97 million viewers, which set the year's low mark. Then on April 22, the show dipped down further, to 1.82 million viewers. And now Glenn Beck has set yet another ratings low: May 14, the show attracted 1.77 million viewers. That is almost exactly half the audience the show was getting at its peak in late January.
Wow.
Last time I documented the precipitous, and undeniable, fall in Beck's ratings, the host became quite defensive and claimed that I had cherry-picked the data.
But of course, my reporting was factual and dead-on. So I can't wait to hear how he spins the fact that he just set another ratings low for 2010.
And oh yeah, as I previously pointed out, last June, July and August were very unkind to Glenn Beck in terms of ratings. There clearly seemed to be a pronounced summer seasonal effect that drove down his audience. (After all, his show does air at 5 p.m. in the afternoon and who spends those summer hours watching cable news?) My point being, I've got a hunch that same seasonal dip is waiting right around the corner, which means Glenn Beck may be setting more rating lows in the coming weeks and months.
