Measure for measure

Whilst Piers Morgan is enjoying the build-up to his CNN show launch on January 17, I hope someone explains how viewing figures work to him pretty quickly.

He's enormously taken with the idea that CNN is available in "300 million homes worldwide", and that his weekday interviews will be on three times a day in most CNN International schedules.  There is an equally enormous difference between availability and viewers making use of that availability. 

In the UK, CNN does not subscribe to BARB, the non-profit making audience research service supported by most major broadcast organisations. Nor does Bloomberg or MSNBC.  Fox News does - and recorded a UK weekly reach (viewers have to tune in for 3 consecutive minutes over a seven day period to count) of 190,000 in December. Euronews scored 341,000.  Current TV hit 631,000.  

Compare those with Sky News at just over 6.3 million, and the BBC News channel at 11 million.  All of them chasing a potential UK tv population of 54.3 for just three minutes of their attention span.  The news channel interview audience in the UK will be with Adam Boulton, Jeff Randall and Stephen Sackur for some time, however much Piers blusters.