Talking Biz News interviews Kevin Magee, FBN’s Executive Vice President. It’s a pretty good interview…
The network recently changed some of its programs and has hired some new on-air talent. What’s behind all of that?
We recently hired Lori Rothman from Bloomberg. We’re anxious to get her in here and get her on the air. We think she has a demeanor that our audience will appreciate. She doesn’t try to talk down to the audience. I think she will be a good complement to our strong daytime lineup.
We always tweak; that’s what programmers do. I sit in my office with 42-inch monitors all of the time, with the three business networks and Fox News. And most of the time, I’m happiest with what’s on my screen versus CNBC or Bloomberg. It’s a constant operation to put on the best shows that we can.
This for me is the most interesting part of the interview though (highlighting ICN’s)
After nearly three years on the air, how do you think Fox Business Network is doing?
We’re doing great. We don’t release ratings because we’re not a full-service Nielsen subscriber. We need to have a bit more faith in their ability to count our heads. But anecdotally, we’re catching on ways that we didn’t see six months or a year ago. Don Imus has been a big help to us in terms of visibility. I’m getting more comments from people about Liz Claman. People like what they’ve seen.
This is the first time I can recall that anyone with FBN has gone on the record in discussing why FBN is not yet officially rated by Nielsen. It’s been three years since launch and some of us who were there when it launched thought (based on some off the record conversations) that the network would likely be rated officially within a year to a year and a half. So the fact that it’s still not has generated one big question mark as to what went wrong and why. I wish TBN had followed up on this question and gotten a little more granular in regards to what exactly FBN doesn’t like about Nielsen’s ratings methodology. The CW is that it may have something to do with FBN winding up mostly on operators’ digital tiers, but that’s just a best guess estimate. I for one would like to know what the story really is…
Update: TVNewser’s Alex Weprin weighs in…
For what it is worth, networks complaining about Nielsen’s reliability is nothing new. Even the broadcasters have issues with the service. That is part of the logic behind forming CIMM, which is devising an alternative measurement system that would more accurately measure TV viewing while also incorporating views on other devices.
Of course, Fox News trumpets its Nielsen ratings all the time. It is safe to say that if FBN was consistently beating CNBC, it would be trumpeting them as well… and would be rated by Nielsen.
I concur with Weprin…
