Anderson who?

Anderson Cooper, that CNN anchor nobody watches anymore, has continued his slide in the ratings. Check this out from the Business Insider:

Anderson Cooper is fading in the ratings.

The respected CNN anchor has seen his numbers slip significantly through the past year. His 10 p.m. show, "Anderson Cooper 360," has declined 62% in total viewers and 70% in adults 25-54 from November 2008, according to Nielsen figures.

Last month, in Cooper's time slot, Fox News' "On the Record" attracted an average viewership of 1.9 million while "360" averaged 672,000; repeats of MSNBC's "Countdown" and HLN's Nancy Grace show averaged 655,000 and 458,000, respectively.

But in the ad-friendly 25-54 demo, those same repeats won out over Cooper with 224,000 (MSNBC) and 214,000 (HLN).

Cooper -- who became an overnight sensation during his Hurricane Katrina coverage -- surely deserves better ratings. From the start of 2009, he began losing a huge chunk of his nightly audience.

So what happened? Let's see: There's no presidential election to ramp up ratings; there's heavy competition from centrist CNN's noisier rivals (see: Fox News, the No. 1 cable news channel); there's people catching up on DVR-ed TV shows in the late evening; then there's the loss of Lou Dobbs in the 7 p.m. anchor chair, among other possible factors.

I can think of another factor, Anderson Cooper comes off as an arrogant and sanctimonious ass.  Such an attitude tends to rub folks the wrong way. If CNN wants to end their ratings slide into oblivion, they should start by loosing personalities like Cooper. Then CNN should focus on reporting important news people can use like Climategate,  rather than silly stories like how Sarah Palin uses a plane on her book tour.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: Business Insider