Friday is when we publish our running charts of O’Reilly vs. Olbermann and Network vs. Network Cable News ratings. To that I wanted to add a special item on Nielsen ratings thresholds for cable news channels.

On the air for about 20 years, CNBC’s audience in still doesn’t meet Nielsen’s minimum reporting levels. In industry terms, they “scratch”. Each network has its own threshold, but here is CNBC’s performance vs. the Nielsen minimum reporting levels from 5am-Midnight for viewers and for Adults 25-54 during February 2008.

CNBC Program Scratch Chart, February 2008 for Average Viewers:

CNBC Program Scratch Chart, February 2008 for Adults 25-54:

Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.