CNN’s new leadership may have to change their focus from a revamp to an entire overhaul.
While it can become a little pedantic to focus on ratings too much, it’s appropriate to pay attention with keen interest to some recent numbers. CNN’s distancing and brash media expert Brian Stelter has been struggling in recent months to get ratings. But, in the last week, Stelter has put up impressive numbers. He isn’t the only one who can do this. “Reliable Sources” Sunday slot, though — the network itself is experiencing some dismal returns.
Already 2022 is proving to be a difficult year for CNN, once the top-rated cable news company. A new group of executives from TV has been appointed following the merger between Warner Media, the Discovery Networks and parent company Warner Media. They are promising to make improvements and to improve the network’s ailing status. It is becoming apparent that they were looking at things with curb appeal potential, only to step into the threshold and see they had something closer to an episode of “Hoarders” on their hands.
The ouster of longtime CEO Jeff Zucker was huge news, followed by the even bigger item of the network’s new streaming service CNN+ going 10-toes-up in a matter of weeks. It was clear that the new owners were serious about the billion-dollar business. These executives now have to deal with the seriousness of the issues they face.
CNN has struggled to gain viewers for many years. However, there was an overall interest in the industry that kept things buoyant. Zucker’s intent on making Donald Trump the focus of the network was enough to prop up profits, but then in his absence, it quickly became apparent there was little else to interest viewers.
Last year, despite the fact that news media saw an overall lull after the election of 2020, there was some recovery. Fox News recovered its position before the 2020 election, while MSNBC experienced a slow recovery. CNN continued to lose viewers throughout 2021. CNN’s problems have been exacerbated by the scandals surrounding Jeffrey Toobin, Chris Cuomo and other producers involved in pedophilia. Today we see where things have gone from moribund…to alarming.
Last week, Stelter’s Sunday media program experienced the lowest ratings since 2019. His Sunday media program failed to draw more than 600,000 viewers. In the advertiser demo, Stelter drew only 74,000. Jarring to be sure — until…
The numbers are in from this past Sunday, and it is not with glee or enthusiasm that we look at the results — it is sheer amazement. Brian’s audience fell by -28 and -44 percentage points in the demo on Sunday June 19. While this isn’t a drastic drop in audience, it is still a decline from a year ago. last week’sThese figures are already shockingly poor. Brian managed just to reach over 400,000 viewers. These are the returns that his show has not received in seven years. Staggering.
Cable News Sunday Media Shows June 19@FoxNewsNearly tripled @CNNIt’s a left-wing opinion network that has become an embarrassment for those trying to connect.
Rank – Total | Demo
1⃣1,200,000 | 124,020 @MediaBuzzFNC @HowardKurtz
2⃣ 421,000 | 41,340 @ReliableSources @BrianStelter pic.twitter.com/wXCJU5rIlj— RoadMN 📈 (@RoadMN) June 21, 2022
Stelter’s audience has an aggressive apathy that is not limited to Stelter. Network in general is on the verge of collapse. On Friday, the average of the day’s demo was the lowest seen in two decades. They last reached those low numbers 22 years ago.
In 22 years, CNN’s weekday audience is the smallest among advertisers-coveted demographic.
On Friday, Struggling CNN had only 56,000 viewers aged 25 to 54.
By @briansflood https://t.co/6dw0xd98Gf pic.twitter.com/BR1zGRbvft— johnny dollar (@johnnydollar01) June 21, 2022
This trend continued throughout the weekend. The average for the key demo categories was just 67,000 between Saturday and Sunday. This detail is worth considering: There were only two times that the weekend key-demo was less than it was for nearly thirty years.
CNN has worst weekend since 2000 among critical demographic as viewers flee network https://t.co/a1q5sMMGHB
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 21, 2022
To make matters worse, Monday’s look at JUST cable news networks reveals how far CNN has fallen. The network’s highest-rated program of the day — “360 with Anderson Cooper” — barely made it into the top 40. CNN’s top-rated program, “360 with Anderson Cooper,” was viewed by 550,000 people. Joy Reid, Jose Diaz Balart (long-ignored), and Tucker Carlson were able to beat him.
Cable News Rankings Mon Jun 20
1⃣@TheFive @DanaPerino @GregGutfeld @JesseBWatters @JudgeJeanine @HaroldFordJr
2⃣@TuckerCarlson
3⃣@JessePrimetime
4⃣@SeanHannity
5⃣@BretBaier
6⃣@Maddow
7⃣@IngrahamAngle
8⃣@GutfeldFox!
9⃣@AmericaNewsroom @DanaPerino @BillHemmer
🔟@OutnumberedFNC pic.twitter.com/ALsMn97v5j— RoadMN 📈 (@RoadMN) June 21, 2022
All of this takes place against the backdrop of almost total coverage for the hearings of the January 6 committee. CNN was almost embedded in the J-6 committee. D.C. correspondent Jamie Gangel reported on how many of the members of J-6 said that Jeff Zucker had been pushed from the CNN plaza entrance in Atlanta. Gangel explained that some of them feared for the democracy because Zucker was an integral ally to their cause.
These returns explain a lot, including the stark disconnect between Americans and CNN’s vital information. It is impossible to believe that the changeover promised by the new executive will occur soon enough. This changeover should have occurred years ago.
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