Numeracy

I am occasionally asked about why this blog goes on and on about Piers Morgan. Two reasons: first, I don't think he's a very good interviewer, and I suspect more and more Americans are realising that. Second, he loves bragging about the size of his audience, and I have been tracking his CNN show against his preferred measure, 25-54 year olds. This week, on Monday, another new low for Piers - 72,000. For a shouting match with documentary maker John Ziegler. You don't need to watch much to get a flavour.



In the world of cable and satellite, channels love quoting the number of homes to which their output is delivered. This is quite different from audience figures - the viewer needs to select the channel to count for that. My chums at BBC World News, for example, were rightly pleased with a deal at the end of 2012, which means they now reach 25 million homes across the USA. Now they have signed up to Nielsen Ratings, and we'll soon be able to see how "Impact with Mishal Husain" shapes up against Piers.