Kind of a quiet day on Friday. The Ed Show took the best hour and Hannity took best day, both on with lower than usual numbers.
Random notes:
Realtime with Bill Maher is off for its summer hiatus. But, amusingly, he still got more mentions, during the day, than many shows that were on the air. This shows the advantage and difficulty of Twitter statistics: personalities have lives outside of their shows, and it’s nearly impossible to tease apart tweets that are specifically in reaction to a show and those that are more broad-based. This is why, for example, Hannity almost always wins the best day — his hours of radio broadcasting adds thousands of mentions to his timeline even if they have nothing to do with his Fox News show.
I tend to focus on the “best hour” winners because those are shows that got the most mentions while they were on the air, which I think are a lot more relevant. Only when a show wins best day that rarely gets high daily numbers do I call it out. Normally, though, best day measures someone’s overall popularity within and outside of the confines of their cable news show.
How do you interpret the Twitter ratings vis-à-vis broadcast ratings? You cannot, really. These statistics measure conversations on Twitter, which is a sui generis medium. Broadcast ratings measure a completely passive activity, watching. Twitter is an active medium, and the Twitter ratings measure the activity inspired (in part) by viewing a show and, specifically, the topics discussed on a show.
Still, I think there’s untapped potential for using Twitter data for refining shows to achieve higher broadcast ratings. Were I running a show, I would monitor the specific topics that people discuss online and use that as an input (but just an input) into topics to focus on in the future. It wouldn’t be hard to do (from a software standpoint), and it would be sort of like free “dial-testing”…
Note that all times are US Eastern Time. See notes at end for further explanations.
For earlier articles on cable news twitter ratings, please see
this.
Cable News Twitter Ratings for 2014-08-08
Top Shows for the day:
| Category | Mentions | Show |
| Most Mentions During Hour | 1173 | MSNBC: The Ed Show |
| Most Mentions During Day | 10358 | Fox News: Hannity |
Ratings for individual time slots
Ratings for 12 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | America Tonight | 0 | 92 | 61% | 39% |
| CNN | The Sixties | 9 | 357 | 40% | 60% |
| Fox News | The Kelly File | 28 | 1487 | 52% | 48% |
| MSNBC | The Rachel Maddow Show | 43 | 1774 | 50% | 50% |
Ratings for 1 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | Consider This | 0 | 8 | 100% | 0% |
| CNN | The Sixties | 5 | 357 | 40% | 60% |
| Fox News | Hannity | 312 | 10358 | 61% | 39% |
| MSNBC | The Last Word w/Lawrence O’Donnell | 13 | 819 | 70% | 30% |
Ratings for 2 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | Real Money with Ali Velshi | 1 | 109 | 62% | 38% |
| CNN | CNN International | 256 | 4501 | 56% | 44% |
| Fox News | On The Record w/Greta Van Susteren | 11 | 3383 | 50% | 50% |
| HLN | Nancy Grace | 5 | 189 | 52% | 48% |
| MSNBC | Hardball w/Chris Matthews | 6 | 1373 | 54% | 46% |
Ratings for 3 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 18 | 1468 | 59% | 41% |
| Al Jazeera | Inside Story | 6 | 16 | 100% | 0% |
| CNN | CNN International | 315 | 4501 | 56% | 44% |
| Fox News | RedEye | 749 | 2634 | 66% | 34% |
Ratings for 4 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | America Tonight | 1 | 92 | 61% | 39% |
| CNN | Early Start | 0 | 0 | 0% | 0% |
| Fox News | The Five | 0 | 13 | 46% | 54% |
Ratings for 5 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 10 | 1468 | 59% | 41% |
| Al Jazeera | Real Money with Ali Velshi (3:30) | 0 | 109 | 62% | 38% |
| CNN | Early Start | 0 | 0 | 0% | 0% |
| Fox News | FoxFriendsFirst | 25 | 107 | 58% | 42% |
| MSNBC | First Look (5-5:30) | 0 | 0 | 0% | 0% |
| MSNBC | Way Too Early (5:30-6) | 12 | 54 | 49% | 51% |
Ratings for 6 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 18 | 1468 | 59% | 41% |
| CNN | New Day | 212 | 3026 | 57% | 43% |
| Fox News | Fox And Friends | 183 | 1422 | 61% | 39% |
| HLN | Morning Express w/Robin Meade | 24 | 223 | 60% | 40% |
| MSNBC | Morning Joe | 377 | 2953 | 54% | 46% |
Ratings for 7 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 47 | 1468 | 59% | 41% |
| CNN | New Day | 428 | 3026 | 57% | 43% |
| Fox News | Fox And Friends | 298 | 1422 | 61% | 39% |
| HLN | Morning Express w/Robin Meade | 32 | 223 | 60% | 40% |
| MSNBC | Morning Joe | 948 | 2953 | 54% | 46% |
Ratings for 8 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 75 | 1468 | 59% | 41% |
| CNN | New Day | 309 | 3026 | 57% | 43% |
| Fox News | Fox And Friends | 328 | 1422 | 61% | 39% |
| HLN | Morning Express w/Robin Meade | 31 | 223 | 60% | 40% |
| MSNBC | Morning Joe | 696 | 2953 | 54% | 46% |
Ratings for 9 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 85 | 1468 | 59% | 41% |
| CNN | News Room | 21 | 101 | 56% | 44% |
| Fox News | America’s Newsroom | 24 | 170 | 59% | 41% |
| HLN | Morning Express w/Robin Meade | 31 | 223 | 60% | 40% |
| MSNBC | The Daily Run Down | 247 | 898 | 51% | 49% |
Ratings for 10 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | Consider This | 0 | 8 | 100% | 0% |
| CNN | News Room | 4 | 101 | 56% | 44% |
| Fox News | America’s Newsroom | 52 | 170 | 59% | 41% |
| HLN | Morning Express w/Robin Meade | 16 | 223 | 60% | 40% |
| MSNBC | José Díaz-Balart | 127 | 423 | 57% | 43% |
Ratings for 11 am
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 71 | 1468 | 59% | 41% |
| Al Jazeera | Inside Story (11:30) | 1 | 16 | 100% | 0% |
| CNN | @This Hour | 31 | 250 | 38% | 62% |
| Fox News | Happening Now | 70 | 139 | 54% | 46% |
| HLN | Morning Express w/Robin Meade | 13 | 223 | 60% | 40% |
| MSNBC | News Nation w/ Tamron Hall | 48 | 329 | 47% | 53% |
Ratings for 12 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 131 | 1468 | 59% | 41% |
| CNN | Legal View w/Banfield | 10 | 74 | 71% | 29% |
| Fox News | Outnumbered | 665 | 2021 | 70% | 30% |
| HLN | HLN Now | 17 | 174 | 33% | 67% |
| MSNBC | Andrea Mitchell Reports | 395 | 1090 | 54% | 46% |
Ratings for 1 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 87 | 1468 | 59% | 41% |
| Al Jazeera | TechKnow | 0 | 0 | 0% | 0% |
| CNN | Wolf | 129 | 1006 | 66% | 34% |
| Fox News | Happening Now | 15 | 139 | 54% | 46% |
| HLN | HLN Now | 14 | 174 | 33% | 67% |
| MSNBC | Ronan Farrow Daily | 140 | 1058 | 46% | 54% |
Ratings for 2 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 114 | 1468 | 59% | 41% |
| CNN | News Room | 9 | 101 | 56% | 44% |
| Fox News | The Real Story w/Gretchen Carlson | 113 | 343 | 70% | 30% |
| HLN | HLN Now | 7 | 174 | 33% | 67% |
| MSNBC | The Reid Report | 231 | 758 | 41% | 59% |
Ratings for 3 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| CNN | News Room | 6 | 101 | 56% | 44% |
| Fox News | Shepard Smith Reporting | 169 | 241 | 49% | 51% |
| HLN | HLN Now | 12 | 174 | 33% | 67% |
| MSNBC | The Cycle | 206 | 387 | 59% | 41% |
| MSNBC | The Cycle (w/ Host Accounts) | 253 | 1114 | 70% | 30% |
Ratings for 4 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 76 | 1468 | 59% | 41% |
| CNN | The Lead w/Jake Tapper | 387 | 4313 | 64% | 36% |
| Fox News | Your World | 79 | 1303 | 63% | 37% |
| HLN | HLN Now | 45 | 174 | 33% | 67% |
| MSNBC | Now w/Alex Wagner | 166 | 386 | 59% | 41% |
Ratings for 5 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | Inside Story (5-5:30) | 0 | 16 | 100% | 0% |
| CNN | The Situation Room | 151 | 1006 | 66% | 34% |
| Fox News | The Five | 5 | 13 | 46% | 54% |
| Fox News | The Five w/Hosts | 489 | 3494 | 67% | 33% |
| MSNBC | The Ed Show | 1173 | 2389 | 58% | 42% |
Ratings for 6 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 85 | 1468 | 59% | 41% |
| CNN | The Situation Room (6 – 6:30) | 130 | 1006 | 66% | 34% |
| Fox News | Special Report w/Bret Baier | 243 | 1599 | 55% | 45% |
| MSNBC | PoliticsNation w/ Al Sharpton | 20 | 98 | 67% | 33% |
Ratings for 7 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | Real Money with Ali Velshi | 2 | 109 | 62% | 38% |
| CNN | Out Front w/Erin Burnett | 94 | 224 | 59% | 41% |
| Fox News | On The Record w/Greta Van Susteren | 638 | 3383 | 50% | 50% |
| MSNBC | Hardball w/ Chris Matthews | 562 | 1373 | 54% | 46% |
Ratings for 8 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 37 | 1468 | 59% | 41% |
| CNN | Anderson Cooper 360 | 902 | 3190 | 51% | 49% |
| Fox News | The O’Reilly Factor | 42 | 595 | 60% | 40% |
| MSNBC | All In w/ Chris Hayes | 729 | 1753 | 63% | 37% |
Ratings for 9 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Fox News | The Kelly File | 741 | 1487 | 52% | 48% |
| MSNBC | The Rachel Maddow Show | 456 | 1774 | 50% | 50% |
Ratings for 10 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | Consider This | 0 | 8 | 100% | 0% |
| CNN | CNN Tonight | 105 | 484 | 65% | 35% |
| Fox News | Hannity | 443 | 10358 | 61% | 39% |
| HBO | Real Time w/Bill Maher (Not Aired) | 91 | 1581 | 50% | 50% |
Ratings for 11 pm
| Network | Show | Tweets Hour | Tweets Day | Male | Female |
| Al Jazeera | News | 146 | 1468 | 59% | 41% |
| CNN | The Sixties | 62 | 357 | 40% | 60% |
| Fox News | The O’Reilly Factor | 17 | 595 | 60% | 40% |
| HBO | Real Time w/Bill Maher (Not Aired) | 183 | 1581 | 50% | 50% |
Definition of terms used in this report:
- Network: For the purposes of total network mentions, the count is the total unique tweets that
mention any of the shows tracked on the network or the network’s general Twitter account (e.g., @CNN). - Mentions During Hour or Tweets Hour: The number of tweets that mention the show during the hour
specified. For shows that are repeat later in the day, the first (and often live) showing usually garners the
most mentions by a significant margin. - Mentions During day or Tweets Day: The total number of mentions a show received from midnight
to midnight, eastern time. - Tweet Count: The number of tweets (including retweets) that mention a show.
- Unique Tweeters: The number of Twitter users who have sent one or more tweets mentioning a
show. If a user sends more than one tweet, they still only count once. - Reach: A measure of the number of impressions a collection of tweets will make. For each tweet
that is sent, it adds up how many people follow the person tweeting it — how many timelines that tweet will
show up in. Thus, if network A has 10,000 mentions from people with an average of 10 followers, the reach will
be 100,000. On the other hand, if network B has 10,000 mentions from people with an average of 100 followers,
the reach will be 1,000,000. So network B has much greater reach: tweets mentioning network B will potentially
be seen 10 times as often as tweets about network A. - Male / Female: An estimate of the demographics of a show’s audience. Note that this number is
an imprecise estimate.
Cable News Twitter Ratings are still experimental. If you have any suggestions, find any errors, or have any questions,
please feel free to contact me at admin@socialseer.com
For further discussion of how these stats are calculated, please see this blog post. Especially
the part about how I determine the gender of Twitter users.