Why CNN won’t let go of Lou Dobbs just yet
In every business there is the concept of ‘the loss leader’. The idea is that you offer a product at such a low cost that people who wouldn’t normally come through the door come in to buy that product. At the same time there is the hope that they will end up buying something else at a regular price.
Here at The Inquisitr my writing about technology could be considered to be that ‘loss leader’. While it typically attracts a smaller demographic than say the people who read about Michael Jackson or the latest disaster it is hoped that while the reader is on the site they will end up reading other posts thereby increasing the pageviews. When it comes to television news – especially with cable news – these loss leaders, while they may cause some problems, are important because they bring in a demographic that might otherwise go elsewhere.
With the recent drive to hit FOX News in the wallet by trying to get advertisers to drop their support of the Glenn Beck show we are seeing Beck become more of a loss leader for the network. For all the outrage that his demagoguery might cause the network looks at the demographics of the audience he does pull in and how much of that traffic then converts to watchers of other shows on their network – news or otherwise. I am sure that there is a break point where the influx of viewers for his firebrand rhetoric will not balance out the loss of advertising dollars. At that point I am pretty sure that Beck would be shown the door – but don’t count on that happening for some time.
When it comes to FOX competitor CNN they realize that as repulsive as it might be to have that same kind of viewership associated with the CNN brand they are also a business which means they have to make money. Making that money means that they have to find some way to appeal to the “Glenn Beck” and “Rush Limbaugh” crowd.
This is where Lou Dobbs comes in because while he might be a little tamer than a Beck or Limbaugh he still appeals to the same mentality of viewership that the other two do. The problem is that right now CNN is facing the same pressure as FOX News is in that there are organizations out there putting pressure on advertisers to drop running ads on the Dobbs show.
Where Beck is becoming a loss leader moneywise for FOX News so is Lou Dobbs for CNN. From CNN’s point of view Dobbs is almost a necessity because he does draw in a growing demographic that would go elsewhere. As Jason Linkins noted in a post at Huffington Post
CNN is facing pressure on a number of fronts to drop Lou Dobbs from their roster of on-air talent, a move that would force millions of Americans seeking out news about the conspiracy to spread leprosy throughout America via illegal Mexican immigrants to turn instead to the guy who lives under the bridge by the old tire factory.
Sure CNN might be walking a fine line with the more loyal CNN viewers but as long as Dobbs keeps bringing in a demographic that would normally go to one of their competitors, especially FOX News, I think we can be assured that Dobb’s job is pretty safe. Yes he might be told every once in a while to tone down his particular type of rhetoric but as long as there is the potential of his viewers sticking around to watch other CNN shows then his value as a loss leader is worth the cost of possibly losing advertisers of his show.
