Trump Victory Cemented by TikTok and Podcast Viewers, Not MSNBC Neanderthals
The average age of MSNBC viewers is 70. They voted for Harris.
New Media Is Leaving the Old Guard Behind
Podcasts are exploding, TikTok is a news source, and traditional media is shrinking in reach and influence.
Please consider the Wall Street Journal report Trump’s Win Cemented It: New Media Is Leaving the Old Guard Behind
Two weeks ago, Donald Trump sat down with the podcaster Joe Rogan for three hours, an episode that drew more than 45 million views on YouTube and over 25 million listens across Spotify and other platforms. On election night, Rogan was among several podcast hosts who got shout-outs in Trump’s victory celebration.
It underscored what the 2024 presidential race made clear: A new media landscape has emerged. The traditional gatekeepers of political discourse—TV networks and newspapers—are shrinking in influence as Americans turn to many more outlets for information.
The percentage of people listening to podcasts in a given month has more than tripled in a decade. In the social-media realm, more than half of TikTok’s users say they regularly get news on the platform, according to the Pew Research Center. Elon Musk’s takeover of X has had a major impact, with political content, especially right-leaning posts, blanketing new users’ feeds.
The main three cable channels were down 32% in viewership collectively compared with 2020, to around 21 million, with CNN losing almost half its audience.
Some 47% of people in the U.S. have listened to a podcast in the past month, including nearly 60% of people who are under 35, according to Edison Research. And 54% of podcast listeners say getting news or political analysis is an important benefit of the medium, according to the industry advisory and data tracker Sounds Profitable. [Mish Note: This is the key age group, not 30 and under. I explain why below].
Cable news viewership overall is down from its recent peaks during Covid. Fox News is the leader, averaging 2.7 million prime-time viewers in October; MSNBC is second, with 1.3 million; and CNN, which has had the steepest drop-off in recent years, is averaging 792,000.
Question and Answer of the Day
Commentators on CNN and MSNBC routinely said Trump was a threat to democracy and played up criticism from those, including his onetime chief of staff, who said he would rule like a dictator. One question is how many persuadable people were listening.
Answer – No One
Any regular viewers of any of those networks to the exclusion of others, already had their minds made up.
Advertising money on those outlets was thus a total waste of money.
Did anyone see Rachel Maddow’s meltdown? I didn’t but I am sure there was one. Someone please post a clip.
I suspect it is highly entertaining.
Key Election Age Group
The key age group in the election is not 30 and under but a slightly larger 35 and under. The above chart explains why.
Why Trump Won the Election in One Clear Picture
For discussion, please see Why Trump Won the Election in One Clear Picture
There is massive Democrat soul searching today. Hardly anyone will get it right. This is despite huge evidence all year long.
On November 5, I wrote The Brookings Institute Wonders Why Consumer Sentiment is So Bad, I Can Help
Please check it out. I posted ten charts and dozens or reasons why consumer sentiment is bad.
Brookings doesn’t know and called it a paradox. Now, like Silver, they are probably wondering why Trump won.
Harris preached about the environment to major groups of people who are struggling to put rent on the table and are worried about being evicted.
It’s hard to be worried about a rise of 1 degree, 50 years from now, when you are damn worried about being evicted or putting food on the table today.
I am proud of my analysis and I stuck with it from February through November.
It’s the Media!
If you seek an alternate explanation, I can help.
Please note
In the totally clueless department Jason Furman, a Harvard professor and Chair of Obama’s CEA lectures people on how well off they are.
Jason, by any chance are you getting your news from The View and MSNBC?