It’s been a little over a week since Al Jazeera America’s launch, and, despite the network’s glitzy ad blitz, the ratings are pretty terrible.
“Setting the world on fire. Really it's a force,” Pat joked on radio this morning. “I mean, the rest of us may as well flip the switch off.”
According to TV Newser, the highest rated show of the week was the Thursday evening edition of Real Money with Ali Velshi, which brought in a whopping 54,000 total viewers.
Even Piers Morgan's ratings aren't that bad.
The numbers just got worse from there, TV Newser reports:
The 2 PM Saturday edition of “News Live” averaged 48,000 viewers, while “Inside Story” Thursday at 12:30 PM averaged 41,000 viewers. “News Live” Thursday from 12-12:30 averaged 40,000. The debut edition of “The Stream” on Tuesday averaged 38,000 viewers, below Nielsen’s accuracy threshold, while the debut of “America Tonight” averaged 34,000 viewers.
“AJAM’s launch ratings were pretty low by traditional cable news standards,” writes TV Newser, a website run by Mediabistro.com that’s followed by many in the television news industry.
According to the Al Jazeera America website, the network’s goal is: “To be recognized as the world's leading and most trusted media network, reaching people no matter who or where they are.” So far it looks like Americans are not interested.
“This is important in the context of this ratings story that you're doing because they are pouring money into advertising,” Stu explained. “Like I was watching like ESPN SportsCenter and in the middle of their national ads, Al Jazeera spots are running. They're running on conservative talk radio all over America. Anywhere they can run these things, they're running them.”
“Now, so you know, they're in 49 million households, 49 million,” Glenn explained. “So 49 million households, and I'm happy and proud to say The Blaze is crushing them [in ratings].”