Thrilla: Fast Money vs. Mad

The battle for primetime ratings supremacy is going into the late rounds at CNBC. Fast Money and Mad Money are nearly tied in the all important 25-54 demographic.

57,000 viewers vs. 56,000 viewers

It might be one guy vs. five.

But Cramer wins, by a nose. 

If college students were counted in the mix it might pad Cramer’s lead. Cramer broadcasts several show from campuses each year, and clearly has a following with the odd-lotters. Great news, no doubt, for those of you looking to extract alpha from future generations of booyah trained analysts.

Fast Money, too, seems to have a healthy contingent of business school students.  Nearly every night they call in on the webcam and strut their stuff Friday in a 30-second spot. Most of the students are quite capable, if not borderline brilliant.

Primetime trends at the network are flagging a bit but the channel is outperforming most U.S. equity indices during market hours, with all programs between 6AM and 6PM up year-over-year. Some of them bigtime.

“All CNBC programs from 6am-6pm increased in A25-54 audience over 2Q06. Business Day programs with the largest gains over 2Q06 were Squawk On The Street (+73%) and Squawk Box (+46%),” an internal network document says.

Also, between 9:30am and 4pm (market hours), the network had its best second quarter since 2001… TVNewser

Best quarter since 2Q 2001, just as the bear market was beginning to sink its teeth into everybody’s behind. Put that in your algorithm, Simons.

The market might be driving much of the ratings gain, but women of CNBC have to be a factor. They are a bright bunch. Although some of them would seem to be overworked. Poor Erin.

We have a piece of advice for Rebecca Jarvis, who is new to the game and occasionally stumbles over the pronunciation of some of the flakier NASDAQ companies. If you are in doubt how to pronounce them Rebecca, look up the phone number and give them a call. Chances are the person picking up the phone has got it right. No worries, we have all been there. Who comes up with these names?

The women have substance. Which is more than I can say for Joe’s Squawk Box guest yesterday…

Q2 #’s: Mad Money & Fast Money Almost Scratch in 25-54 Demo
TVNewser

Q2 #’s: Good Biz Day Numbers for CNBC
TVNewser
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The content contained represents the opinions of 1440 Wall Street. This commentary in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. It is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.

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