The spectacle of the House Speaker provides a lift to C-SPAN and television news outlets

The tension surrounding this week’s vote for House speaker is reminiscent of a scene from Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot.” It would seem that Americans are interested in seeing the political play.

Nielsen reports that live coverage of Representative Kevin McCarthy’s struggle to clinch the House speakership, as well as the gruelling internecine fight in the Republican Party, has resulted in larger-than-usual ratings for cable news. This is due to the fact that both of these events have garnered significant attention.

And C-SPAN, the low-fi cable network that is cherished by those who are knowledgeable about Congress, has earned a big increase in attention for its coverage of the House floor around the clock, which is now the location of a political war that will be remembered for the ages.

After a difficult 2022, during which both CNN and MSNBC suffered a significant drop in their ratings as Americans moved on from the Trump era and the height of the epidemic, the spectacle in Washington has proven to be a New Year’s gift for both networks as we enter 2023.

In the afternoons of Tuesday and Wednesday, as Mr. McCarthy’s losing efforts continued to mount, CNN edged out Fox News in the important demographic of viewers ages 25 to 54, marking a very rare triumph over its usually higher-rated competitor.

Both CNN and MSNBC attracted far larger viewers than their typical weekday numbers during those afternoon hours, even while they were reporting a series of losses. According to MSNBC, the network was on track to have its best rated week in the last six months, at least among daytime viewers in the age bracket ranging from 25 to 54 years old.

This week, Fox News maintained its position as the most watched cable news channel, making it the clear winner overall. And despite the fact that some conservatives have voiced their dismay at the disarray that has taken place among House Republicans, Fox News has continued to pull in large audiences for many of its opinion programming. Leading figures on the right, Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity have been under intense scrutiny from members of the political establishment who are looking for clues as to where the two men’s loyalties lie in relation to the ongoing situation.

C-SPAN, on the other hand, has reaped the benefits of a greater increase in cultural influence than any other channel. This is because C-SPAN is a media property that has spent decades airing roll calls from Congress.

A representative for C-SPAN named Howard Mortman said that the network’s mobile app has had a record amount of downloads and that the network has trended on Twitter. Nielsen does not provide ratings for C-SPAN, although the channel’s live video of Thursday’s events on YouTube had 1.2 million views.

Typically, the political party that is currently in power of the House oversees C-coverage SPAN’s of the chamber. This party has the ability to dictate what C-SPAN viewers see and hear on the network.

C-SPAN is granted a longer-than-anticipated period of independent editorial authority as a result of the election of a House speaker, which has already gone on for four days and allows the network to manage its own cameras throughout the process.

It has resulted in a broadcast that is more dynamic, which has recorded sotto voce moments among members that are not generally viewed by the general audience, and some of these moments have become quite popular on the internet. C-crew SPAN’s spotted Matt Gaetz of Florida and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and trained a camera on them after they were having a side conversation. As a result, the conversation gained a lot of attention, in part because the crew noticed the two representatives and trained a camera on them.

According to what Mr. Mortman had to say, “in a manner, the American people have gained from the previous few days by witnessing members of Congress in frank moments and discussions.” This past week served as an intense civic education for the American people about the workings of Congress, and they were able to witness it all for themselves.