While there may be resentment from many on how much the news focuses on Donald Trump, viewership on news network has jumped, according to Nielsen ratings.
Two articles outline the strange connection between The Donald and his influence on the rise in news consumption, as well as how this conflicts with the overall decline in TV watching specifically.
This piece from Fortune shares:
The election of Donald Trump as president may be having a questionable effect on the economic and political outlook for the U.S., but it has been a considerable shot in the arm for the TV news business, according to new numbers from Nielsen.
Last year, adults over 18-years-old watched over 27 billion minutes of national cable television news programming per week. That’s almost 45% more than they watched in 2015, according to Nielsen’s latest Total Audience Report, which looks at consumption patterns for cable, smartphones, and desktop computers.
And this other piece from The New York Times focuses on Trump’s relationship with news giant CNN and CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker specifically.
Had Trump lost the election, CNN would probably have returned to its previously scheduled struggle for survival. Instead, it has become more central to the national conversation than at any point in the network’s history since the first gulf war. And the man who is presiding over this historic moment at CNN happens to be the same one who was in some part responsible for Donald Trump’s political career.
Read more at The New York Times.