Thread: 'Crushing It': Maria Bartiromo Beats 'Squawk Box' As Fox Business Sweeps CNBC In Q2 R

'Crushing It': Maria Bartiromo Beats 'Squawk Box' As Fox Business Sweeps CNBC In Q2 Ratings

Mark Joyella, Contributor
Jul 3, 2018 @ 11:53 AM

When Maria Bartiromo left top-rated CNBC for the upstart but ratings-challenged Fox Business Network in 2013, Bartiromo described CNBC, where she'd worked for two decades, as stuck in a rut: same voices, same format. "That was what people wanted in the '90s," she told The Daily Beast. "But today I really do feel that audiences want something different.”

Bartiromo saw it coming: a huge shift in viewership that has seen Fox Business rise to the top, with FBN posting a sweeping win in the second quarter, according to ratings data released Tuesday by Nielsen. Fox Business has now beaten CNBC for seven consecutive quarters, and for the first time, Bartiromo's Mornings With Maria beat CNBC's marquee morning show, Squawk Box, CNBC's last hold on the core business viewing audience the network was built to serve.

"I am so happy to see our show resonating more and more with viewers," Bartiromo told me by email. "A huge congratulations to our amazing team, including Dagen McDowell, and our guests, who bring their experience, know-how and insights every day to inform. Big congrats to our producers, who put a phenomenal show together every day. We have great momentum and will continue crushing it.”

In 2Q 2018, Bartiromo's Mornings led Squawk Box among total viewers, 109,000 to 104,000, as CNBC reached a four-year low in both total day and prime-time ratings.

In 2017, Fox Business posted its first full-year win over CNBC among total viewers (Business Day, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday). In the second quarter of 2018, FBN grew, with Business Day ratings climbing 17% compared with 2017 and beating CNBC by 23% (203,000 total viewers compared with CNBC’s 165,000).

Among viewers 25-54, the demographic most coveted by advertisers, CNBC finished ahead of Fox Business in the second quarter, with 31,000 viewers to FBN's 25,000.

FBN had the top-rated business news show on cable, Lou Dobbs Tonight, which won among total viewers (319,000) and among viewers 25-54 (36,000), the show's 10th consecutive quarter in first place. Overall, FBN had six of the top seven business shows in cable, including Varney & Co, Countdown to Closing Bell With Liz Claman, Cavuto Coast to Coast, and The Intelligence Report With Trish Regan.

Mark Joyella is a journalist, writer and public speaker; you can follow him on Twitter and Facebook

https://www.forbes.com/sites/markjoy.../#738b61a4767e

Good job, Maria! Love your show.