Thriving New York Times, Fox News Ponder A Post-Trump Scenario
President Donald Trump has long predicted that the New York Times would go out of business and cable-news ratings would collapse if he left the political stage. Thriving New York Times, Fox News Ponder A Post-Trump Scenario
The numbers from the height of the political campaign would suggest otherwise — that, in fact, viewers and readers are ready to tune in to somebody new.
In October, former Vice President Joe Biden outdrew Trump in the ratings for their competing town-hall events. And in the past six months, articles about Biden in U.S. publications have gotten slightly higher engagement per story on social media than articles about Trump, according to NewsWhip, which tracks, among other metrics, the number of reactions, shares and comments each story receives on Facebook.
A Biden victory would hardly remove Trump from the scene. Weeks of tension between the president and his successor could make for compelling articles and good TV.
It’s when news outlets look further into the future that they start to get nervous. Year three of a Biden administration might mean relying more on political kerfuffles in Washington, and whatever crises await, than on a single man’s personality.
“With Biden you’re not going to have these wild rallies. You’re going to have speeches on budget reconciliation. I don’t think that’s going to light people’s hearts afire,” said Jim VandeHei, co-founder and chief executive officer of the digital news startup Axios. “There’s no way you’re not going to see lower cable ratings and some reduction in traffic to websites.”
Print Media
Perhaps no media company has had a better run during the Trump years than the New York Times. The breakneck pace of news — and free marketing from Trump’s “failing” label — have brought subscribers in droves. In the summer of 2015, the Times had about 1 million digital-only subscribers. It had 5.7 million at the end of this year’s second quarter.
“There’s certainly a perception within the investor community that a Biden win will result in a slowdown in New York Times subscriber growth,” said John Belton, a media analyst at Evercore ISI.
But while Trump was a big reason for the surge in Times subscriptions a few years ago, growth has accelerated recently “for reasons that go well beyond Trump,” Belton said, citing a $1-a-week promotional offer as one of the moves that has helped drive growth.
“The Times is in many ways, as a business, countercyclical to certainty in the world,” CEO Meredith Kopit Levien said at a recent investor conference. “And it is very hard to imagine that we’re moving into more certain times.”
If Trump loses, however, newspapers and magazines may shed subscribers who signed up to support media outlets that the president attacks. “The tribal representation of subscribing as political act loses some of its strength,” said Tony Haile, CEO of Scroll, a startup that sells subscriptions to an ad-free online news bundle.
A Biden victory could also pose a dilemma for newsrooms. An ex-President Trump likely wouldn’t cede the spotlight, and covering his political opinions could prove irresistible to news outlets, VandeHei said.
“If on one hand you’ve got Biden who is predictable and conventional and you have all these wild antics on other side, do you just ignore it or do you cover it?” he asked. “It’ll be a big test for the media.”
Cable News
For cable news channels, the past four years have been a ratings bonanza, with viewership soaring to records at Fox Corp.’s Fox News, AT&T Inc.’s CNN and Comcast Corp.’s MSNBC. If Biden wins, audiences could look more like they did under his former boss, Barack Obama.
A return to a normal media landscape could benefit Fox News more than its rivals. The most-watched cable news channel’s 55% share of the cable news audience during the Obama years actually slipped to 46% during the Trump administration, according to Nielsen. Left-leaning MSNBC, meanwhile, has struggled when the news cycle this year has strayed away from politics.
Longer-term, the pandemic will likely continue to attract viewers. And Trump could still be a ratings magnet as he faces legal challenges from authorities in New York.
If Trump loses, said Jon Klein, a former president of CNN/U.S., it could be “like the end of season 1 of your favorite binge-worthy drama. There’s a huge cliffhanger, but that’s just the start.”
Social Media
Trump has been both a boon and a headache for social media companies like Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. His posts are often some of the platforms’ most engaging, but both companies have also had to change policies to combat his public declarations, which can be misleading or in violation of their rules.
Facebook and Twitter’s policing of Trump’s posts has been a point of contention in Washington, with Republicans saying their approach shows bias. A Biden victory could make it easier for Facebook and Twitter to enforce their own rules without having the president at the middle of most debates.
A Biden presidency might also alleviate internal tension among Facebook and Twitter staff. Hundreds of Facebook employees held a virtual walkout in June, for example, after CEO Mark Zuckerberg refused to remove a Trump post suggesting that police would use violence against protesters in Minneapolis.
As Trump’s online platform of choice, Twitter may have the most to lose by a Biden win. But the company points more to live events like the Olympics or political debates as catalysts for growth, and Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal downplayed the idea that Trump’s presence on the service helps keep users engaged.
“There are lot of people who use Twitter a lot,” he told Bloomberg Television’s Emily Chang on Friday. “Politics Twitter is great, but politics Twitter is a small fraction of what happens on the service.”
Even if he loses, it seems unlikely Trump would abandon the unparalleled reach of Facebook or Twitter.
A Biden presidency may temper political posts on TikTok, the music-video app that became a home for activist clips during the pandemic — and found itself in the Trump administration’s crosshairs. While many supporters of Biden are on the app, Trump is talked about more there. Posts with #Trump2020 hashtags have 13.9 billion views on TikTok, compared with 4.7 billion views for posts with #Biden2020.
Related Articles:
Trump Unveils ‘Platinum Plan’ For Black Americans (BS!!!) #GotBitcoin
The Record Economic Boom Is A Mirage! Just More Trump BS! Keep Moving #GotBitcoin
US States Face Biggest Cash Crisis Since The Great Depression (#GotBitcoin?)
Trump Issues Executive Order Making Some Civil Servants Easier To Hire And Fire
Black Homeowners Pay $13,464 More On Their Mortgages, Study Says
Trump Weighs Prospect Of Defeat After Insulting Both Seniors AND Women
Wealthy Nations Defy Trump With Debt Lifeline To Ailing Cuba
Who Is Helmut Norpoth And Why Does He Say Trump Will Win Big?
Companies Raise Inability-To-Pay Claims Amid Pandemic, Justice Department Official Says
Homeland Security To Grant Millions To Groups To Combat White Supremacists And Other Extremists
Prediction (Betting) Market Doubts Trump Will Complete First Term After COVID-19 Diagnosis
Trump Used Facebook To Try And Convince 3.5 Million Black Americans Not To Vote In 2016
Trump’s Tax Revelation Destroys Successful Business Mogul Image
Cost Of Racism: U.S. Economy Lost $16 Trillion Because Of Discrimination, Bank Says
Bloomberg, Others Rack Up $20M To Register 32K Florida Felons Deeming Them “Time Served”
Some Wealthy Americans Are Already Prepping Their Finances For A Joe Biden Presidency — Here’s How
Kamala Harris Woos Black And Latino Voters As Joe Biden’s Running Mate
Biden Appeals To Florida Latinos As Polls Show Trump Gaining
Poll: Should Trump As A Civilian Face Class-Action Lawsuits For Minimizing Severity Of Covid19?
Trump As A Civilian To Face Avalanche Of Lawsuits!!!!
Trumponomics Forces Amazon Drivers To Hang Cellphones From Trees Desperate To Get Gigs
Trump Is Silent While Russian Navy Conducts Biggest Drills Near Alaska Since Soviet Era
Open Letter To Supporters of The Draft-Dodger-In-Chief!
Right-Wing Facebook MEGA-Troll Wall-Of-Shame
Donald Law And Order Trump Encourages People In North Carolina To Vote Twice, Which Is Illegal
Here’s Why No Bankers Go To Jail (#GotBitcoin?)
Cities With Republican Mayors Also Had Protests Which Resulted In Property Damage
Trumponomic’s Furloughs Turn Into Permanent Job Losses (#GotBitcoin?)
Trump White House Commits Multiple Hatch Act Violations In Re-Election Attempt
After Three Years of Attacking L.G.B.T.Q. Rights, Trump Suddenly Tries Outreach
Scrapping Payroll Tax Without Replacement Would Hit Social Security Benefits By 2021 (#GotBitcoin?)
Money Funds Waive Charges to Keep Yields From Falling Below Zero (#Bitcoin?)
Millions of US Jobs To Be Lost For Years, IRS Projections Show (#GotBitcoin?)
Kellyanne Conway To Leave White House As Trump Divisiveness Indeed Hits Close To Home
The US National Debt Has Exceeded The Total Value Of The GDP (#GotBitcoin?)
When The Stock Market And Economy Becomes Disconnected (#Bitcoin?)
Donald Trump, Peter Navarro (Trade Adviser) And A $765 Million Loan To Kodak That Deal Blew Up
Steve Bannon Joins Six Other Criminally Charged Ex-Trump Advisers
Trump Calls For Goodyear Boycott Amid Outrage Over ‘MAGA’ Ban
Trump’s Big Donors From 2016 Want Nothing To Do With Him This Year
State Budgets Hit Hard By Trumponomics Create A Drag On U.S. Recovery
Joe Biden-Kamala Harris Ticket Makes Debut After Historic VP Pick
Biden, Obama Release Campaign Video Applauding Their Achievements
Small Businesses Brace For Prolonged Crisis, Short On Cash And Customers (#GotBitcoin?)
Ultimate Resource For Violations of The U.S. Constitution Including “Money” And Coronavirus
Trump Campaign Forced To Use Tele-Rallies As Coronavirus Cases Surge
Roger Stone Uses Racial Slur In Live Radio Interview With Black Host
The Fed Is Setting The Stage For Hyper-Inflation Of The Dollar (#GotBitcoin?)
The Next Phase Of The Retail Apocalypse: Stores Reborn As E-Commerce Warehouses
Republicans Alarmed By Democratic Senate Hopefuls’ Fundraising Haul
American Airlines Plans To Furlough Up To 25,000 Workers This Fall (#GotBitcoin?)
Consumer Appetite For Cars, Homes Bolsters U.S. Economy
Banks Get Ready For Wave of Recession-Led Loan Defaults (#GotBitcoin?)
32% of U.S. Households Missed Their July Housing Payments
What You Need To Know About The New Small-Business Bankruptcy Laws
Police Wrestle With Surge In Crime In U.S. Cities Amid Defunding Efforts
Here’s An Investment That Perfectly Tracks The Economy
Fed, Treasury Disagreements Slowed Start of Main Street Lending Program
When A Texas Oil Boom Goes Busts
Trump Takes Cognitive Test And Can Identify A Rhino vs A Camel
Don’t Know How Much Stimulus Is Needed? Put It On Autopilot, Some Say
Colorado Police Chief Fires Three Officers Over Reenacted Chokehold Placed On Elijah Mcclain
Republicans Give Trump Labor Day Deadline To Turn Things Around. After That, He’s On His Own
Chapter 11 Business Bankruptcies Rose 26% In First Half of 2020
Chaotic Trump Administration Plus Russian Bounty Intelligence Equals Loss Of American Lives
Supreme Court Orders Restructuring of Consumer-Finance Watchdog
Reddit, Acting Against Hate Speech, Bans ‘The_Donald’ Subreddit
Private Equity’s Trillion-Dollar Piggy Bank Holds Little For Struggling Companies (#GotBitcoin?)
TikTok Teens Overload Trump’s Online Store With Orders Only To Abandon Shopping Cart
Fed Stress Test Finds U.S. Banks Not Healthy Enough To Withstand “Few Quarters” Economic Downturn
Elizabeth Warren Was Right About Whacky Stockmarket Fundamentals (#GotBitcoin?)
Two Of The Latest High-Profile Trump Resignations
US Banks Have Seen A Record $2 Trillion Surge Of Deposits Since The Coronavirus Crisis Began
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.