Yesterday, we here at Shoebat.com had 41,000 unique visitors. Al-Jazeera America, which purchased CURRENT TV for $500 Million, ain’t doin’ nearly as well.
Former ABC Vice President Kate O’Brian doing bang-up job as President of Al-Jazeera.
Check out these numbers, via Ad Age (h/t BNI):
The channel isn’t even pulling in half the total audience that predecessor Current TV managed. Al Jazeera America has averaged just 15,000 total viewers in prime-time since bowing in August, with only 5,000 viewers in the target 25-to-54-year-old demographic, according to Nielsen figures. That’s low enough to be considered “scratch,” or negligible, by Nielsen. For the marketers that still worry about the channel’s perspective and its image in the U.S., those aren’t the kind of numbers to tempt a re-examination.
Al Jazeera America CEO Ehab Al Shihabi has previously said that profits are important over time but not his primary goal initially.
Al Jazeera America has worked to reduce fears about its agenda by bringing in well-known journalists and anchors like Kate O’Brian from ABC News, veteran foreign correspondent Sheila MacVicar and former CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien, who serves as a special correspondent.
You just gotta love the spin of the Muslim network, via Ad Age. Six months after launching, the network thinks it’s heading in the right direction with only 15,000 viewers because… well… it’s apparently too sophisticated for the undeceived masses to appreciate:
Al Jazeera America is at least headed in the right direction as it gears up for upfront meetings with media agencies and their clients to discuss the coming year, according to Marc Morse, senior VP-national broadcast, RJ Palmer. It has delivered on its promise of nonpartisan coverage that avoid celebrity gossip and fluff while emphasizing investigative reporting and international news, Mr. Morse said.
The network’s viewership is small but upscale and highly educated, Mr. Morse added.
Al-Jazeera’s motto is ‘fact-based, In-Depth News’. Many other works of fiction are ‘fact-based’ too.
Here is an excellent piece of satire on Al-Jazeera America’s launch (h/t BNI):