A record-setting 70 million-plus viewers watched election returns Tuesday night, which proved to be historic for cable TV and Web news consumption just as it was for Barack Obama.
It was no doubt the most people to use those mediums to follow election returns. Nielsen Media Research doesn’t have complete historical viewership figures, but the 47 million homes following the story on TV was the most ever.
Web sites run by MSNBC, CNN and ABC News all shattered records for traffic on Tuesday. The top site Yahoo! News saw its page views up 80 percent over the 2004 campaign.
ABC News had the most prime-time viewers, according to Nielsen’s preliminary estimate. But stretch that coverage to 12:30 a.m. EST, which would include John McCain’s concession speech and Obama’s victory appearance in Chicago, and CNN was watched more than any network.
Not only is that CNN’s biggest audience in a nearly three-decade history, it proved that a cable network could beat the major broadcasters on a big event. That’s an important change from even four years ago, when more viewers turned to ABC, CBS and NBC on Election Night.
DirecTV’s Election News Mix was a gas. They ranged 8 mosaic-style panels, 4 over 4, with the network channels top half and CNN, FoxNews, MSNBC and BBCAmerica across the bottom.
As you used the remote to move from panel to panel, you caught the audio for that channel. Click enter and it went full-screen. Click to jog back and you returned to the mix channel.
Absolute heaven for news junkies. Especially with 6 of the 8 in Hi-Def.
CNN had me the minute they did the hologram. After that, I just couldn’t turn away. Actually, Wolf makes my crazy, I hate that guy. Same with Couric, CBS is out of my life if she’s on.
FNC was fun, I thought I’d see a replay of Scanners. But no, unfortunately.
Looks like FOxNews needs a new shade of lipstick.
INdecision – I found John & Stephen were too lame with the public, and too aggressive between each other.
All an act of course – but still, they should have put on the burners some of those radical idiots counterbalanced with truthiness.
The reverse-Bradley effect interviews I liked.
DirecTV’s mix channel was pretty slick. Watching Fox News right now it looks like they’re going with a wait and see approach on Obama (who isn’t?), while focusing on the McCain camp leaks about Palin. That’s a pretty interesting story.
What’s interesting about CNN’s coverage was that, outside of the overdone graphics, it was good because of their format. Meanwhile, Fox News’ format has become overcomplicated. Since they’re really doing two broadcasts (the DC bureau does Fox News, the NY headquarters does Fox broadcast), they’re spread too thin and the cracks are showing.
Fox needs to take a page from CNN and have multiple panels of experts for one guy to rotate between. It makes for more interesting conversations over time.
Also, a decent GOP ticket would help, too.
#3 – That pair lost its magic over the year. With so much hype around the election, they got lost. David Alan Grier’s Chocolate News is much better. Hell, South Park turned around fast on a post-election episode last night that was better than the Daily Show.
I loved SNLs skit on Keith Oberführer. I hadn’t watched him in about a year and recently tuned in. The guy is ready for the rubber room. Not cut out to be a political reporter I guess.
This doesn’t surprise me. The holograms were cool and FOXNews was removed from my Tivo channel lineup when the treated Ron Paul so badly.
I watched some Family Guy reruns until around 7pm (pacific) then switched over to CBC to watch the curling.
Ottawa was ahead of Thunder Bay by 2 rouges in the 3rd quarter, eh!
#7 – Ron Paul makes Palin look like a rhode scholar. It turns out having your head up pussy all of those years doesn’t make you think like a woman, but like someone in the dark. Go figure.
#9, troll
All the cable networks spent too much time with their panels and comments about where the Republican base is, …
They spent far more time telling about the finished New Hampshire senate race than they did with the squeaker in Minnesota. Don’t tell us it’s close. Give us the details. Once per hour about Elizabeth Dole would have been sufficient.
How about more details on some Congressional seats. Who lost, by how much, who is the winner, … . What about those who kept their seats? How safe were the Republicans? By How much? How much did they spend? Were they expected to lose / win? Where were the gains / seat changes.
#11 Agreed. Coverage was anemic.
Olbermann is still get chuckles from me, but that should be expected because he has plenty of material to mock thanks to GW.
None of the stations seemed interesting this year. Then I remembered; I miss Tim Russert.
I had the cable networks, NBC, and Current TV set to my favorite list and just spam pressed the favorite button whenever dumb pundits came on.
I might not agree with Al Gore’s politics, but Current (his channel) was fantastic – no pundits, just facts, Tweets, and techno music making the electoral map pulsate. Totally ADD and totally awesome.