Down Steeply Since Late Jan., Big 3 Evening Newscasts Stuck at Low Summer Levels

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... during the time period after Labor Day, the broadcasts primarily anchored by Brian Williams at NBC, Charles Gibson at ABC, and Katie Couric at CBS:

• Are down a combined 28.5% from their peak in late January during the first full week of Barack Obama's presidency.
• Have lost a combined 37.7% of their audience in the 25-54 demographic during the same time period.
• Are down year-over-year compared to September 1, 2008, the week after Labor a year ago, by 8.9% overall and 18.1% in the 25-54 demographic.
• At 19.55 million, are basically drawing audiences no larger than they were during this past (for them) miserable summer.

What follows are related graphics; source material comes from posts in the Evening News Ratings Category at Media Bistro's TV Newser.

There's little point in denying that Big 3 Nets supported and heavily invested in Barack Obama's electoral rise and ultimate victory, risking large-scale alienation of what remained of its already-shrinking audience. From a ratings and presumably financial standpoint, it's pretty hard to argue that it was worth it. The Internet doesn't cause almost 30% of an audience to disappear in less than 8 months.

More recently, as documented frequently at NewsBusters, all three networks have bit on the "subtle racism" meme and, until recent days, totally ignored James O'Keefe's and Hannah Giles's unmasking of the seamy side of ACORN, more than likely driving even more viewers away.

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