There’s bad and then there’s whatever you call this absolute cratering in the ratings by CNN.
Ever since it became clear Trump wasn’t going to be indicted by Robert Mueller, nor was evidence coming forth that he colluded with the Russians, CNN has been heading downhill fast. They’ve tried to maintain relevance by continually sniping at Fox News, even promoting boycotts against them, but it hasn’t worked.
The numbers are out for last week and they aren’t pretty, at least not for CNN.
CNN had its lowest primetime weekly ratings overall and in the key age demographic last week, according to Nielsen Media Research.
From April 8-12, the network only averaged an audience of 690,000 people and 180,000 in the key 25-54 age demographic. Their coverage last week included three presidential town halls with New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro.
In what should have been one of their bigger weeks, given all the special events they broadcast, their primetime numbers essentially bottomed out. Averaging only 690,000 viewers overall is absolutely awful. There are mid-level blogs that are getting more eyes than CNN does on your average weeknight.
Just who beat out CNN? The list is long and hilarious.
The top networks for primetime viewership last week were led by Fox News, followed by MSNBC, the Home and Garden TV, USA Network and TBS Network to round out the top five.
CNN finished 15th, behind networks like Discovery Channel, Food Network, TLC and A&E Network.
Keep in mind that many of the channels listed above have had their biggest shows already end as we head into the summer months, i.e. they are showing reruns. Yet, they are still beating out CNN during a period full of big news stories, including something as attention getting as the release of the Mueller report on Thursday.
More people would rather watch reruns of 90 Day Fiance than sit through Chris Cuomo or Anderson Cooper bloviating for an hour. The real question is how do they stay solvent if this keeps up? Can they keep paying hosts millions a year to draw less then 750,000 viewers a night? I’d guess their near monopoly on international cable news is helping their bottom line and will keep them afloat for a while yet.
CNN is that guy who takes himself way too seriously and doesn’t realize that everyone is just laughing at him. They call all their opinion hosts “anchors” and assert they are objective in a laughable bit of gaslighting. In a way, that is probably hurting them worse than if they were just honest. MSNBC beats them handily by at least not pretending they are something they aren’t.
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