Americans Flock to TV, Internet For Bailout News

Television audiences for four U.S. news networks spiked Monday afternoon after the House of Representatives voted to defeat Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s Wall Street bailout bill, Nielsen reported Wednesday. 

During the 2pm to 3pm (EST) daypart on Monday, the combined audiences for CNN, CNBC, FOX News, and MSNBC jumped by 71% over the average daily audience for that daypart between Sept. 1 and Sept. 28, according to Nielsen.  The 3pm to 4pm daypart saw an even larger jump (103%) over the average audience for the prior portion of September. 

Daypart	CNN, CNBC, FOX News, and MSNBC Combined TV Audience: Sept. 1 – 28 (in 000s)	CNN, CNBC, FOX News, and MSNBC Combined TV Audience: Sept. 29 (in 000s)	% Difference
6:00-7:00 AM	1,719	1,708	-1%
7:00-8:00 AM	2,429	2,649	9%
8:00-9:00 AM	3,027	3,265	8%
9:00-10:00 AM	3,343	3,381	1%
10:00- 11:00 AM	3,541	3,335	-6%
11:00 AM-12:00 PM	3,482	3,170	-9%
12:00-1:00 PM	3,296	3,133	-5%
1:00-2:00 PM	3,155	3,840	22%
2:00-3:00 PM	3,090	5,279	71%
3:00-4:00 PM	3,120	6,333	103%
4:00-5:00 PM	3,542	7,004	98%
5:00-6:00 PM	3,841	7,067	84%
6:00-7:00 PM	4,124	6,421	56%
7:00-8:00 PM	4,412	6,845	55%
8:00-9:00 PM	6,254	9,046	45%
9:00-10:00 PM	6,945	7,767	12%
10:00- 11:00 PM	6,674	6,296	-6%
Source: The Nielsen Company (September 1, 2008 – September 29, 2008).

CNN, CNBC, FOX NEWS, and MSNBC’s combined audience spiked at almost 7.1 million viewers during the 5pm to 6pm hour — an 84% increase over that daypart’s average daily audience for Sept. 1 through Sept. 28.

Also surging on Monday: blog discussions with the terms “wall street” and “bailout.”  Overall, nearly 2% of all blog posts on Sept. 29 mentioned the term “bailout.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile, traffic to online brokerage websites was up by 30% between September 15 and 21 — the week that AIG and Lehman Brothers collapsed, according to Nielsen data released Tuesday.

Unique visitors to online trading sites increased from a weekly average of 9.2 million during the previous seven weeks (July 28 – September 14) to nearly 12 million during the week ending September 21. 

ShareBuilder.com, Scottrade.com, and Merrill Lynch’s corporate website traffic also jumped between September 15 and 21 — by 217%, 104%, and 128%, respectively.

The total number of people accessing the Internet remained stable during that time period.

Website (Ranked by Sept. 15 – 21 UA)	Weekly Average Unique Audience July 28 – Sept. 14 (in 000s)	Weekly Average Unique Audience Sept. 15 – 21 (in 000s)	% Growth
Online Trading Category	9,212	11,992	30%
Fidelity.com	2,061	2,742	33%
ShareBuilder	625	1,980	217%
Scottrade	790	1,612	104%
Vanguard	720	1,434	99%
Ameritrade	806	1,090	35%
Merrill Lynch	436	994	128%
Charles Schwab	634	927	46%
E Trade	713	900	26%
troweprice.com	282	506	80%
Source: The Nielsen Company (July 28, 2008 – September 21, 2008)

View the full press release.

Read coverage of Nielsen’s findings in The Baltimore Sun.