MSNBC: "Is losing good for business?"

Keach Hagey (Politico):

Harris Diamond, the chief executive of the Constituency Management Group of the Interpublic Group of Companies, which does branding among other communications work, said MSNBC’s new tagline made business sense.

“At the end of the day, what we’re seeing with MSNBC is a sort of doubling down on the business level,” he said. “In today’s world, if you look at the three majors, it’s pretty clear that Fox has been really successful in the folks who lean right. MSNBC wants to double down on the folks who lean left.”

The question, from a business perspective, is whether there are enough of liberal viewers to make it worthwhile for the parent company for MSNBC to go the more partisan route.

Paul Levinson, a professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University, believes that’s unlikely for the time being, even with the help of having Republicans in control of the House.

“It’s important to bear in mind that Fox has been successful during most of the Bush administration when it wasn’t in the opposition, as well as in the Obama administration, when it was in the opposition,” he said. “What happened is that CNN is much less successful than it was eight or nine years ago. For whatever reason, nowadays, conservative, anti-Obama viewpoints are much more successful on radio and television than progressive points of view.”

But he added that the Republican takeover of the House creates “a whole new ballgame” in which “anything is possible regarding the media.” MORE...