'America Live' Finds Success in Afternoon Time Slot
By Christopher Peleo-Lazar // May 25, 2012 | 10:30 a.m.
Daytime cable news programs don't typically rival top cable entertainment channels in the ratings battle. But Fox News' America Live is defying the odds: In April, the show nearly matched perennial daytime TV leaders TNT, Nickelodeon and ESPN.
The show, hosted by Megyn Kelly, has only been around since 2010. But just three years later, the show is eclipsing its own ratings bests in the intensely competitive cable news environment. Part of the program's success, says Kelly, lies in its unique approach.
"I think this is a problem a lot of the other networks don't get, but Fox News does," Kelly recently told Fox News' John Stossel on his weekly show. "The key is to give them the news but not bore them to death."
Take Mitt Romney's recent appearance on the show. During a tough interview, Kelly veered the presumptive GOP presidential nominee off-message, prompting a comment about how he had made "a lot of money."
America Live airs from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Eastern Time and competes for ratings against two other news programs airing on cable at the same time.
CNN airs its Newsroom from 1 p.m.-3 p.m. Eastern Time. Ratings-wise, the network relies on its brand more than any one of the show's hosts. Like much of CNN's programming in recent years, the show's ratings are not very high when breaking news isn't happening.
MSNBC longest running daytime show, Andrea Mitchell Reports airs at 1 p.m., opposite Newsroom and America Live. From 1 p.m.-2 p.m., MSNBC is shuffling around programming as it is still to define the identity of the second hour.
Kelly, who made the jump from lawyer to journalist in 2004, is also central to the show's success. Women make up more than half of the cable news audience according to Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism. Her personalization of the show and discussion of what it means to be a working mother does well with her target audience.
The program's record ratings are not going unnoticed by network executives. Fox decided to include Kelly in its 2012 election coverage alongside Bret Baier. And Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes often compares Kelly to Bill O'Reilly, the network's most popular host.
"She's a host. For one thing, she's fearless,' said Ailes describing Kelly in an interview with Esquire published in January of 2011. "She'd crawl down a smokestack for a story."
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