After just two months on the air, Al Jazeera America is losing ground in the US.
The US offshoot of the Mideast news outfit managed fewer than half of the viewers who tuned in to its predecessor, Al Gore’s Current TV.
Al Jazeera America has averaged just 13,000 viewers a day since its Aug. 20 launch — on par with a public access channel. In the 25- to 54-year-old audience sought by advertisers, it drew 5,000 viewers.
The ratings are so low, they are considered a “scratch” and aren’t reported by Nielsen.
“We are making large investments in programming and marketing,” an Al Jazeera America spokesperson said Sunday.
By comparison, 31,000 viewers tuned into Current TV a year ago.
Currently, Al Jazeera America is carried in about 44 million US households. The network lost millions of households when Time Warner Cable dropped its predecessor Current TV before Al Jazeera America got off the ground.
The No. 2 cable provider has agreed to make Al Jazeera America available in about 10 million homes. Despite that, the news channel is the smallest of fry. Last Thursday, Even with Time Warner Cable on board, Al Jazeera America has a long way to go in its mission to compete with mainstream rivals. Leader Fox News drew 353,000 total viewers, while CNN notched 174,000 and MSNBC grabbed 121,000.
Al Jazeera America is trying to attract a US audience despite a deep distrust in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and criticism that it harbors an anti-US bias.
The network’s financial backer, the government of Qatar, paid a hefty $500 million in January to purchase Current TV and gain US distribution.