Global financial community continues to choose CNN as the number one news brand

The international news network leads all channels in key measurements, consolidating its role as the number one media choice, according to the survey conducted by Objective Research.

"As the pioneers of 24-hour news, it is particularly rewarding to retain this leadership position despite the increasing competition. Clearly we're getting it right with our programming for this important demographic who prefer our mix of news and business news to both the business channels and most business print titles available to them," commented Rena Golden, senior vice president CNN International.

Rani R. Raad, vice president of CNN International Ad Sales, said,

"The message for advertisers is clear. If you want to reach the business elite, CNN delivers better than any other channel."

CNN already has an extensive international roster of clients from banking and financial institutions, which in the Middle East includes Dubai International Financial Centre, Qatar Financial Centre, National Commercial Bank and Kingdom Holdings, to name a few.

Globally on a monthly basis, CNN records an increased reach of 78.7%, which represents a reach more than 40% higher than that of its nearest competitor, CNBC, which has a 54.7% reach, followed by BBC World at 53.7% and Bloomberg with 49.5%. In Europe, CNN reaches 72.1% of financial managers in large companies and senior executives in banks and financial institutions, versus BBC World with 56.5%, Bloomberg with 48.1%, CNBC with 43.5% and Euronews with 39.3%.

On a weekly basis globally, CNN records a reach of 60.5%, versus CNBC at 38.1%, BBC World at 34.3% and Bloomberg at 33.5%, while in Europe, CNN also robustly outperforms all the competition, despite one of them being available in the local language, with a weekly reach of 50.7%, compared with BBC World at 35.7%, Bloomberg at 34.0%, CNBC at 26.8% and Euronews at 24.5%.

On a daily basis globally, CNN also surpasses its competition with a 31.4% reach. CNBC registered 19.1%, Bloomberg 16.4% and BBC World 13.4%. A similar trend in Europe puts CNN's daily reach of 22.5% ahead of Bloomberg's 17.7%, BBC World's 12.9%, CNBC's 12.0% and Euronews' 8.7%.

Additionally, the survey finds that CNN leads all competitors in being considered 'up to the minute', with 36.3%, compared with Bloomberg's 22.3%, CNBC's 18.9% and BBC World's 12.5%, and 'influential', with a 28.8%, compared with BBC World at 17.5%, CNBC at 12.7% and Bloomberg at 11.5%. The survey also confirms that one in three respondents tunes in to CNN every day from around the world when travelling - CNN at 30.3%, versus BBC World at 25.9%, CNBC at 17.2% and Bloomberg at 12.1%.

CNN's strong performance continues online, with financial managers in large companies choosing CNN.com with a weekly reach of 17.7%, ahead of all other online news options, including Bloomberg.com at 15.1%, BBC World.com at 4.3% and CNBC.com at 3.2%.

Additionally, global results on websites accessed by senior financial executives puts CNN.com second only to Bloomberg, with a weekly reach of 17.3% versus Bloomberg's 19.5%, Reuters' 13.3%, The Financial Times' 8.8%, The Wall Street Journal's 8.0%, BBC World's 6.5%, CNBC's 3.1%.

The Global Capital Markets Survey provides data on TV viewing, website usage and readership among CFOs and senior financial decision makers in the world's largest organisations and among top managers of financial institutions and commercial and investment banks. The survey had a global universe of 10,597 in 31 countries and was carried out between May and November 2005.