Ratings
On January 4, 2008, the New York Times, and several other media outlets that day, reported that FBN had registered an average of 6,300 viewers, far below Nielsen's 35,000-viewer threshold. The number was so low that neither Nielsen nor FBN were allowed to confirm the number. The Times and other media outlets noted the network is less than four months old and only in one-third as many households as is CNBC.
In July 2008, Nielsen estimated that FBN averaged 8,000 viewers per daytime hour and 20,000 per prime time hour, compared to 284,000 and 191,000 (respectively) for CNBC. Because FBN's viewership remained low, Nielsen had difficulty estimating viewership, and the estimates are not statistically significant. At the time FBN was available in approximately 40 million homes to CNBC's over 90 million.
As of fall 2008, FBN was losing to CNBC in the ratings by over 10 to 1.
The latest numbers available, from June 2009, showed FBN with an average of 21,000 viewers between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m., still under the Nielsen threshold, and less than 10% of CNBC's 232,000 for the same time span. At this point, FBN was available in about 49 million U.S. homes.
Reports of ratings from the first episode of Imus in the Morning reported an average of 177,000 viewers (and a peak of 202,000 in the 7:00 a.m. hour) in the time slot, mostly over the age of 65; this was a more than tenfold increase compared to the network's previous morning show, Money for Breakfast. The program even beat CNBC's Squawk Box in the time slot.
As of June 2012, Lou Dobbs Tonight was earning an average of 154,000 viewers on Fox Business Network, ahead of its direct competition (Kudlow & Company) on CNBC.
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