1/28/2008

Congloms Stocks Drop; Network Ratings Fall As Original Content Runs Dry


As per AOL Money & Finance:

Disney, CBS, GE, Time Warner, News Corp. and Viacom are all officially underperforming the Dow.

The green line on the chart above (ticker symbol $INDU) is the Dow Jones Index. The graph shows stock price performance relative to the Dow Jones since Nov. 2, the last trading day before the strike.

We're aware that many, many variables affect stock price performance; a whole industry is built around the complexity of those variables.

That said, we're simply pointing out the fact that, although the larger Dow is inarguably down, the conglomerates' stock prices have underperformed even further than the average, on a timeline that lines up with the strike. Even this Marketwatch article, which attributes the media companies' losses in part to recession fears, also points out the damage being done by the WGA strike.

According to the Neilsen numbers, ratings for the major networks have dropped in the advertiser-critical 18-49 demographic (excluding sports).

Ratings for the week ending Jan 20:
ABC -35%, CBS -27%, FOX -3%, NBC -17%

Season-to-date ratings:
ABC -14%, CBS -20%, FOX -3%, NBC -16%

9 comments:

Harold said...

This is one area where I was wrong and enjoy being wrong.

I don't put too much weight on the entertainment conglomerates underperforming the Dow, because the Dow (although comprised of leading large companies) is such a small grouping of stocks.

The fact that the entertainment conglomerates are underperforming the broader S&P 500 and the exchange-specific indexes on which they are listed is even more convincing.

Jason said...

The graph's actually a little misleading - the negative scale is more compressed than the positive.

Benjamin said...

Time Warner has lagged the Dow for a decade now. Means nothing.

Richard Cosgrove said...

Jason said...

The graph's actually a little misleading - the negative scale is more compressed than the positive.

How is the negative scale compressed? Both the positive and negative scales increase by 2 per line, and the horizontal lines in the graph are all the same distance apart.

Jeremy said...

I don't know if this is right but is it because it's marking the percentage change each day and not the actual value? So if it jumped up to 0%, that would mean that the price had actually stayed the same, not that it jumped in price... right? So the fact that all the companies may appear to be improving, they're just not doing as badly the day before until they make it into the black.

People please... said...

Tee-hee.

Sorry, but I just love that they're losing money.

Logan Rapp said...

Time Warner has lagged the Dow for a decade now. Means nothing.

They're lagging the Dow more than usual. It's made that clear.

Unknown said...

people please

When companies lose money, it is generally the employees on the bottom, the custodians, the office support, the facilities people who suffer. The ones at the top will make the same salary and bonuses or if the stock falls too low they will leave with golden parachutes. I take no glee in a company losing money because it is people who can least afford it who will suffer.

Jason said...

Richard C:

"How is the negative scale compressed? Both the positive and negative scales increase by 2 per line, and the horizontal lines in the graph are all the same distance apart."

How embarrassing ... I glanced at the center line then the top and bottom of the graph, didn't notice that the graph's center line isn't 0...!

I'd like to complain about the moron who said the graph is misleading ... oh wait, that's me. :(