americans may be weary of the grueling 2016 presidential race. but media companies would be thrilled if the donald trump and hillary clinton show never ended. cable news networks including cnn and fox news and a host of politics-focused digital outlets such as fivethirtyeight, part of walt disney co. <u+2019>s espn, have enjoyed audience surges this year, thanks to viewers and visitors who can<u+2019>t get enough election coverage. that party will be over after election day on tuesday. media companies are steeling themselves for inevitable audience declines, while hoping that election season exposure will have lasting benefits. cnn recently completed its most-watched quarter in eight years among total viewers and among the key demographic of viewers ages 25 to 54, but the network is aware that trend will be hard to sustain. <u+201c>there<u+2019>s no expectation that the ratings in 2017 will be what they were in 2016,<u+201d> said allison gollust, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of cnn worldwide. <u+201c>one of the things we really tried to do with the momentum we had this year was to promote our original series and films.<u+201d> flooding the zone with politics coverage has ramped up cnn<u+2019>s costs<u+2014>and was the main driver for its parent unit turner<u+2019>s 5% increase in programming costs in the third quarter, the company said on an earnings call. cnn doesn<u+2019>t plan to shrink its politics staff after the election. <u+201c>politics doesn<u+2019>t go away on nov. the 9th,<u+201d> ms. gollust said. cnn is owned by the turner broadcasting system division of time warner inc., which has agreed to be acquired by at&t . perennial cable news ratings leader fox news just finished october as the no.1 network among total viewers, continuing a long streak. it, too, will likely fall back to earth, though historically it hasn't done so as sharply as the more news-driven cnn, given its prime-time stable of personality-driven shows. <u+201c>obviously, we expect the ratings and stuff like that to sort of come off, after the election that usually happens,<u+201d> and then it comes back, said james murdoch, chief executive of fox news parent 21st century fox inc., on an nov. 2 earnings call with analysts. 21st century fox and wall street journal-owner news corp share common ownership. msnbc, whose audience has also soared, plans to continue the breaking news-heavy daytime format it used during the election season, according to a network spokesman. of course, cable news could face a powerful new competitor if donald trump loses. people close to mr. trump have made overtures to media executives in recent months about the possibility of launching a media venture based around subscription online video, according to people familiar with the matter. in a september interview with the wall street journal, mr. trump strongly denied he had plans for a postelection media business. meanwhile, the amazing 2016 race has naturally been a boon to politics-centric news websites. for example, politico<u+2019>s audience doubled since last september, exceeding 20 million unique users in the u.s., according to measurement firm comscore. over the same period, fivethirtyeight<u+2019>s audience jumped 61.2% to 8.7 million unique users in the u.s. fivethirtyeight editor in chief nate silver said he expects the espn property<u+2019>s readership to dip postelection, but is betting that it settles in at a new higher level. one benefit of the intense interest is that more women are visiting the site regularly, mr. silver said. fivethirtyeight has been pushing new readers to sign up for email newsletters or to follow the site<u+2019>s social media accounts. <u+201c>politics is a great way to introduce people to your brand,<u+201d> mr. silver said. <u+201c>how we transition that audience is something we have to think about.<u+201d> not everyone is certain americans will be able to break their political addictions. <u+201c>we want to keep people hooked on the next stage of the story,<u+201d> said carrie budoff brown, politico<u+2019>s incoming editor. after the election is <u+201c>our time where we have to step in and contextualize this.<u+201d> the washington post normally pulls back on staff and resources after covering a presidential race. not this year, according to steven ginsberg, the publisher<u+2019>s senior politics editor. between a new administration, a battle over the supreme court and maybe a new speaker of the house, there will be plenty to obsess over. <u+201c>whoever wins is not going to be seen as legitimate by a lot of the country,<u+201d> he said. <u+201c>the 2020 campaign, i shudder to say it, has already started.<u+201d> write to mike shields at mike.shields@wsj.com and keach hagey at keach.hagey@wsj.com
news outlets brace for postelection audience swoon  - wsj
mike shields keach hagey