The world’s first television broadcasts began airing on NBC in 1948. The broadcasts took the form of weekly 10-minute programs, in which off-screen commentator, John Cameron Swayze, read the news, while a newsreel played on the TV screen.  By August 1948, CBS had taken these broadcasts in a new direction with its 15 minute, weekday news program CBS TV-News, hosted by Douglas Edwards.

ABC followed suit in 1949 when it started producing a nightly news program.  It was third place in the ratings.

In the 1960s, TV broadcast technology began to improve exponentially. Soon, live broadcasts were possible. In the 60s, the networks started their switch to a 30-minute broadcast format, and by the 1980s, networks began using mobile satellites to broadcast live from remote locations more quickly and more efficiently.

In the 1980s, when CNN began its run, the networks took a hit.  Suddenly news was available 24/7. A new era of news had dawned.  To compete with CNN, networks began producing more news shows, including early morning and late night programs.

In Georgia, the First Channel of the public broadcaster was first to broadcast news three times a week. The 10-minute news program was called Ukanaskneli Tsnobebi. Afterwards came Moambe in the 1970s, the first daily news program aired on Georgia’s First Channel.

Despite the growing digital industry, cable news remains very popular – especially during pandemics, wars, and elections.   

According to ComScore data, in 2020, a year that included both a global pandemic and a U.S. presidential election, both evening and daytime cable news audiences increased for the three major cable news channels (CNN, Fox News and MSNBC). The average audience for the prime time news slot (8 p.m. to 11 p.m.) increased by 61% for Fox News in 2020, compared to 2019. Similarly, CNN’s audience increased by 72%, and MSNBC’s audience jumped 28% in 2020.  During elections, the percentage of the 25-54 demographic of cable news viewers also increased. Based on Nielsen’s data in 2020, daily viewership of Fox News increased by 40.3% after 2019. CNN viewership for the same demographic increased 79.8%. In Q2 of 2022, Fox News Channel was the most-watched network on all of basic cable.

Similar to the United States, data from Georgia shows that news and political talk show viewership increased during the start of the pandemic. In March 2020, the number of people who watched news was 30% higher than in 2019, and 40% higher in April. In 2022, the war in Ukraine had an impact on news viewing. For example, in February and March, the viewing numbers for news and political talk shows was higher than in other months.

From 2019 through July of 2022, in Georgia, most viewers watched news on Imedi channel. In 2018, news broadcast by Rustavi 2 was the most viewed.

In 2022, Imedi remained in first place. The most-viewed news broadcast was “Qronika on 20:00”, which was watched by 76,000 viewers per minute in 2022.

Author:

Sopio Makharadze