Monday, May 16, 2005
Court TV Outpacing CNN In May
Source: New York Times The trial of Michael Jackson has been very good for Court TV's ratings. Since late February, when the circuslike proceedings began, the Nielsen estimates for its all-Michael-all-the-time daytime programming are up 100 percent in households compared with the same period last year. Through last Monday, an average weekday during the trial has brought in an audience of 416,000, which is 146 percent more viewers than the channel drew in those months last year.
The numbers for the daily programs of Court TV's stars - Catherine Crier and Nancy Grace, the table-pounding former prosecutor - have increased even more strikingly, and in the first two weeks of May, the channel outpaced CNN in viewers. Trying to capitalize on these bumps - and to overcome advertisers' squeamishness about buying time during anything lurid - Court TV announced in March that it would separate its daytime programming from its entertainment-focused prime-time shows, renaming its weekdays Court TV News.
# posted by ATN @ 12:14 PM 
