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General discussion

Brian Williams replacement more popular than Brian

Feb 25, 2015 4:13AM PST

Back to the mail room for Brian Williams?

This is good. Turns out the replacement is liked so much better that NBC stats have gone up since Williams was taken off as anchor.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2015/02/24/nbc-nightly-news-ratings-without-brian-williams/23938815/

NBC's viewers aren't missing Brian Williams.

Its Nightly News, with substitute anchor Lester Holt, averaged a first-place 10.1 million viewers last week, a 416,000-viewer advantage over ABC's World News with David Muir that widened slightly from the previous week, the first full week after Williams' six-month suspension, when NBC claimed a 398,000-viewer advantage. ABC averaged 9.7 million last week, while the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley, a perennial third-place finisher, netted 8.5 million.

Discussion is locked

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RE: NBC stats have gone up since
Feb 25, 2015 5:13AM PST
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I was wrong about FOX News losing viewers
Feb 25, 2015 5:48AM PST
Bill O'Reilly is defending himself by going for the jugular — because he may not want this PR crisis to go away

Since Mother Jones magazine published its story about O'Reilly's claims last Thursday, O'Reilly has done far more than deny the allegations. He has called the story "slander" and labeled its principal author, David Corn, "a liar" and "a guttersnipe." In one of the numerous interviews he has done with reporters, O'Reilly suggested that Corn should be put in "the kill zone" for his story.

He's also been pushing around the reporters reporting the fallout. O'Reilly began an interview with this newspaper last week by saying, "I'm recording this, so you'd better report this accurately." On Monday, he made his intent explicit, warning a New York Times reporter that if the coverage was inaccurate or inappropriate, "I am coming after you with everything I have. You can take it as a threat."

This may not be the best way to make a crisis go away. And indeed, O'Reilly may not want it to.

O'Reilly's aggressive statements have kept the Mother Jones story in the news for several days, which may have fuelled a mini-bump in his ratings. The O'Reilly-hosted "O'Reilly Factor" attracted 3.33 million viewers on Monday night after several days of headlines, a 10% increase over his average for the month.


If it bleeds it leads.
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Or, "The only bad publicity is no publicity."
Mar 1, 2015 4:26AM PST

I'm told that's not an aphorism in Hollywood, it's a business plan.