CNN Spent Most of the Summer Below One Million Viewers

Orange Hangover.

[N]one of the major headlines were enough to salvage CNN's dwindling viewership.

Over the course of 92 days, CNN failed to reach 1 million viewers on 53 of them, roughly 58% of the summer, according to Nielsen data. The network averaged just 603,000 in total day viewership, a staggering 42% decrease from Summer 2020.

At one point this summer, CNN suffered a 13-day stretch without ever reaching 1 million viewers throughout the entire day from July 28 through August 9. The breaking news of Cuomo's announced resignation broke the network's streak of six-digit viewership on August 10.

CNN's primetime lineup, which provides the network's most-watched programming, went a whopping 80 out of 92 days below 1 million viewers, a devastating 87% of the time and marking over a 50% drop from last year.

This twitter thread by media reporter Joseph Wulfsohn makes some good points:

Joseph A. Wulfsohn @JosephWulfsohn

Over the course of 92 days, CNN failed to reach 1 million viewers on 53 of them, roughly 58% of the summer, according to Nielsen data. The network averaged just 603,000 in total day viewership, a staggering 42% decrease from Summer 2020.

At one point this summer, CNN suffered a *13-day stretch* without ever reaching 1 million viewers throughout the entire day from July 28 through August 9. The breaking news of Andrew Cuomo's resignation broke the network's streak of six-digit viewership on August 10.

CNN's primetime lineup, which provides the network's most-watched programming, went a whopping 80 out of 92 days below 1 million viewers, a devastating 87% of the time and marking over a 50% drop from last year.

"Cuomo Prime Time," CNN's most-watched show, went from averaging 1.9 mil viewers last summer to just 948,000 this summer, falling below 1 mil viewers over 2/3s of the time. By comparison, "Hannity" and "The Rachel Maddow Show" averaged 2.8 mil and 2.2 mil respectively.

"Anderson Cooper 360" averaged 914,000 viewers and missed the 1 mil benchmark 51/66 days on-air, or 77% of the time. That marks a 47% cut from his 1.7 mil average last year. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" averaged 3.1 mil viewers and "All In with Chris Hayes" averaged 1.3 mil.

"Don Lemon Tonight" suffered the most in primetime, averaging a crushing 751,000 viewers, a 54% drop from his 1.6 mil average last summer. Lemon reached 1 mil viewers just **three times** this entire summer in his normal timeslot following a relaunch/publicity stunt in May.

That was when the drama queen dramatically announced that "Don Lemon Tonight" would not be returning, then clarified that the name of the new show would be "Tonight with Don Lemon" or whatever.

CNN daytime benefited from breaking news but had weak viewership overall. "The Lead" failed to reach 1 mil viewers 88% of Summer 2020 with a 44-day dry spell before the fall of Afghanistan. Also, 40% of Jake Tapper's viewers disappeared from 1.38 mil -> 826,000 on average.

"New Day" continues to be CNN's weakest link, which never reached 1 mil viewers this summer. The Brianna Keilar/John Berman duo averaged just 453,000 viewers, a nearly 30% drop from its 636,000 average last summer.

CNN was plagued with controversy this summer between Chris Cuomo repeatedly being swept up in his brother's scandals and the uncomfortable on-air return of Jeffrey Toobin following his Zoom masturbation episode.

Outkick.com made this meme:

... and offered this take on CNN's failures:

From the start of Trump-Clinton to Trump's exit from Washington, CNN focused almost entirely on bringing Trump down. One could argue, CNN did that well, at least to those who enjoy that type of pandering. And many do. I see them on Twitter all the time.

While Fox News and MSNBC miss Trump and the topics he generated, neither network is soulless in his absence. MSNBC is still the whiskey to the mainstream media’s coverage, mirroring their talking points more animatedly. Fox News is the alternative to ABC, NBC, CBS, the New York Times, and social media.

Meanwhile, CNN now has no identity. Who is CNN right now? Their hosts and executives haven't told us -- they don't know. For the first quarter of Biden’s reign, CNN focused its attention on Tucker Carlson. Carlson is the biggest star in cable news, by a lot. However, he's not a politician -- his impact is minimal compared to elected officials. So, of course, CNN’s Tucker-focused programming failed quickly and badly.

...

Along with lacking individual draws and an identity, CNN begins every day behind. And on most mornings, really behind. CNN's morning show sucks. It is bad. No one watches it. Despite its sixth relaunch attempt, New Day averaged 438,000 viewers and 90,000 in the coveted 25-54 demo in August. That's putrid. Brianna Keilar is not the answer in the morning. In fact, she's not the answer anywhere. Thus, when a network places her on a show that’s already down, bad things just get worse.

What? The Real News Network is failing?

John Berman's "New Day" show, the political porn show that attempts to make cultural icons out of bratty leftwing teens who gave the middle finger to parents?

I don't understand how they could be falling in the ratings!

I predict that in three years, she will be Gender Nonconforming.

posted by Ace at 02:23 PM

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