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In the most desirable TV demographic of 25-54, which Keith will soon outgrow himself, "Countdown" lost 44% of its audience from the beginning of President Obama's term until this year. It could have been worse -- say, 45%.

Olbermann averaged 268,000 viewers last month in that sector. That's just several thousand sets of those eyes more than Campbell Brown over on CNN. According to one count, Keith even finished in that time slow behind Nancy Grace. Nancy Grace!

I don't quite understand why Nancy Grace merits nearly universal disrespect--she seems to do quite well considering she's on HLN.

I don't think Keith Olbermann is the real story here. The real story is that every left-wing talk show host on cable is seeing their rating crater, while every conservative talk-show host is seeing corresponding, massive gains. O'Reilly had a big audience before Obama got elected. Its fifty percent bigger now on average. In fact, you can't find a show on Fox that isn't bringing in the viewers, and here's the rub--there is an absolute universe of difference between the shows. Greta Van Susteren is no Fox babe, not particularly conservative, not shrill or bombastic. In fact she couldn't be more different than O'Reilly or Hannity, but she pulls in great numbers every night. I like her--she's unpretentious, intelligent and thoughtful--everything you were told you'd never find on Fox. Hannity is all passion, O'Reilly the avenger, Glenn Beck? I can't say really. He's a funny, crying guy who comes off a little maniacal at times.

Its hard to tell with the blogs, since actual unique readers are devilishly difficult to calculate accurately and sites like the Daily Kos are structured to take advantage of weaknesses in the system to create the appearance of a much larger readership. On the other hand, The Huffington Post is claiming to be growing, and I think I believe them.

The Huffpo has undergone a rather startling transformation, and I suspect its a realistic appraisal of what appeals to the left in this country--porn. Huffpo still has political postings, but increasingly its looking like Rupert Murdoch's newspaper 'The Sun'. I'm most familiar with the Canadian version, which is tamer than the British, but essentially they are the same in spirit--boobs, sports and gossip and a little news around the edges.

MSNBC might want to consider this dynamic more carefully. Maybe they can make money as a cross between Spike TV and CNN. Olbermann might want to consider providing some 'Manswers' as a feature--invite MSNBC babes (are there MSNBC babes?) to crush beer cans with their breasts. Highlight the latest ridiculous way to die, do a remote at the Adult Entertainment Expo. In between you go still characterize Scott Brown as, well, John Edwards.

Porn is a lousy business right now, but that doesn't change the fact that its precisely what a lot of people want to watch. MSNBC wouldn't charge for the porn, just like they don't charge the ten people that watch the network, but they would attract viewers and more importantly--viewers in the 'right' demographic. The advertising possibilities are interesting--if they're careful.

Nothing to do but wait for Keith to become cable's new pornmeister...