{"id":53760,"date":"2004-03-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2004-03-02T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2004\/03\/02\/the-c-span-audience\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T00:00:34","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T05:00:34","slug":"the-c-span-audience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/politics\/2004\/03\/02\/the-c-span-audience\/","title":{"rendered":"The C-SPAN Audience"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

A quarter century after its creation, C-SPAN has a positive image with the general public and attracts a highly loyal audience: Six-in-ten regular viewers (61%) find it very useful and a significantly higher percentage (74%) say they would miss it if it were no longer available.<\/p>\n\n

Pew Research Center surveys have shown that as many as 12% of Americans are regular C-SPAN viewers. That figure comes from a January 2004 survey, in which another 31% say they sometimes watch C-SPAN. In that survey, C-SPAN was the only news organization respondents were asked about. When viewership for C-SPAN is measured along with other news outlets, such as major cable news networks, network evening news, and newspapers, fewer Americans report watching C-SPAN. In an April 2002 survey, which used this format, 5% said they regularly watched C-SPAN and 18% said they sometimes watched it. (The broader survey, covering a wide range of news sources, will be updated later this year).<\/p>\n\n

Despite the varying estimates of the overall size of C-SPAN viewership, it is clear that the audience is broad based. The composition of the C-SPAN audience in terms of race, gender and education is similar to that of all adults. As is the case with most news sources, the C-SPAN audience is somewhat older than the general public \u00ad roughly a quarter of the audience (24%) is age 65 and older, compared with 16% of the public overall. The C-SPAN audience also includes slightly more Democrats than Republicans (37% vs. 28%). The general public is evenly divided politically (31% each).<\/p>\n\n

Most View C-SPAN As Useful<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Despite generational differences in viewership, young people express just as favorable opinions of C-SPAN as do older Americans. Fully 39% of Americans under age 50 (and 38% of those under age 30) say it is very useful for the country to have C-SPAN show Congress at work and provide other government-related programming; 32% of those age 50 and older express that view.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

Most Americans who watch C-SPAN say they would miss it if it were no longer available. Roughly three-quarters of those who regularly watch the network say they would miss it a lot (38%) or some (36%), and about half of those who sometimes watch also say they would miss the network.<\/p>\n\n

While the core C-SPAN audience is most likely to see the network’s value to the nation, most people who never watch C-SPAN still hold a high opinion of the network. Roughly two-thirds of those who never watch say the network is very (24%) or somewhat (40%) useful for the country. Virtually everyone who regularly watches C-SPAN holds this view, with fully 61% saying the network is very useful.<\/p>\n\n

Relatively few Americans know that C-SPAN is paid for through fees from cable and satellite companies. In fact, nearly as many incorrectly believe that the network is funded by the federal government (10%) as say the network runs independently based on cable and satellite licensing fees (12%).<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n

Regular C-SPAN viewers are somewhat more informed about the network’s funding sources, but still only 21% of regular viewers know how C-SPAN is funded.<\/p>\n\n

About the Survey<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Results for the survey are based on telephone interviews conducted under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates among a nationwide sample of 1,503 adults, 18 years of age or older, during the period January 6-11, 2004. Based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points.<\/p>\n\n

In addition to sampling error, one should bear in mind that question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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