CNBC catches 'flu from Wall Street NEW YORK (Variety) - The past year has been harsh to Wall Street, and it hasn't been that kind to CNBC, either. In year-end Nielsen Media Research ratings, the financial news network suffered a 44% drop in its total-day coverage vs. the previous year. Its 7-10 p.m. primetime schedule, which the network revamped in July, remained flat compared with the first half of the year with an average of 224,000 viewers. While CNBC believes that the Nielsen ratings don't reflect the appeal to advertisers of its affluent, on-the-move audience base, it has broadened some of its editorial content. Perhaps in an effort to reach out to the casual investors who may have ditched the network when the markets went south, it covered the California dockworkers strike and aired more consumer-oriented fare such as the five-day documentary series "Price of War." "CNBC continues to deliver to its core audience -- executives and senior-level people," said Chris Geraci, director of national broadcast at ad agency OMD. "But does it hurt? Only that we're always looking for a good story, not a negative one." The network has not seen a very positive story yet with anchor Brian Williams, who became exclusive to CNBC in July and shifted from his time slot on the network from 10 to 9 p. m. The heir to Tom Brokaw's "Nightly News" throne on sister channel NBC has brought up ratings in the time slot by a mere 4% to 250,000 viewers vs. the first half of 2002. One of Williams' lead-ins, "Kudlow & Cramer," has seen a 27% spike compared with the first six months of the year, however. CNBC rivals Bloomberg and CNNfn aren't in enough households to be rated by Nielsen. Reuters/Variety © Copyright Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of Reuters Ltd. 01/02/2003 23:08 RTR