Friday, September 12, 2008

CNN int'l audience poll reveals intriguing data

Staying on the social networking theme, I found some surprising stats about CNN, the "The most trusted name in news", which recently released some insightful data regarding its European viewing audience.

CNN's recent poll among its international audience(5,000 people across 19 European countries)  revealed a base that is highly engaged in verious forms of media, both new and old, and one particular stat that caught my eye. According to the Guardian's article.

• 87%own digital cameras
• 70% read magazines online 
• 74.4% watch recorded TV
• 43.8% share files and documents online
• 38.4% use social networking sites.
• 35% own an iPod or MP3 player
• 33.4% listen to radio online
• 17.9% of the audience, regularly listen to podcasts .
• 16% own a smartphone.

Since I've always considered the CNN audience as the 45 and older crowd,the social network stat really surprised me, but apparently, its younger base has surgedin Europe and America. Founded by Ted Turner,CNN was a pioneer in cable news, but has been surpassed by Fox News in viewership in recent years. In April, CNN ended seven-year drought and edged-out Fox in the coveted 25-54 year-old viewership audience (American audience).According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution,

The Atlanta-based network had an average number of viewers aged 25-54 for the first quarter of 2008, taking bragging rights in the category away from Fox News for the first time since 2001, Neilsen Media Research said Tuesday.

For that age group, CNN averaged 444,000 viewers during the prime-time slot - 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. - soaring 87 percent compared with a year earlier.

 Perhaps CNN's growing reputation as a moderate voice, compared to Fox News' conservative leanings and MSNBC's liberal lineup, is a main reason for the promising stats, along with the transition of its image, which has shedded the Larry King style for, Anderson Cooper 360.

CNN's press release included an interesting quote from Max Raven, CNN 'ssenior vice president  of ad sales in the US, UK and Scandinavia.

"Our mobile inventory sold out for all of last year," he said. "We were selling for next to nothing because we sold on a fixed price and our audience has gone up so much, we have had to start selling it on a cost per thousand."

The article also included this quote

SVP Didier Mormesse of audience insight suggested CNN would alter the way it serves advertising and content, based on the results of the survey.

The results [present] valuable learnings for media owners looking to adapt to new business models to reach audiences in the digital space, and appeal to advertisers [pursuing] multimedia solutions, said Mormesse.

 What do these stats indicate? A simple but vital fact, If older,established media corporations are willing to dump old, ineffective methods in favor of progressing technology, they're capabale of revamping their image and reaching a new audience. While CNN has learned this lesson, many newspapers are still lost in the dark.

Posted By Matt O'Hern at 02:46 PM
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