CNN executives launched CNN+ premium streaming service CNN+ in 2022. They were expecting to add two million subscribers within the first year. This may be the largest miscalculation of 2022.
Axios claims that CNN had worked in consultation with an outside firm prior to the launch. The numbers they came up with were… ambitious, to say the least.
Details: CNN executives, with help from consulting firm McKinsey, originally expected to bring in around 2 million subscribers in the U.S. in the service’s first year and 15-18 million after four years.
- They had originally intended for it to be profitable after only four years.
- Many of the subscribers opportunity executives are aware of comes from overseas markets.
- According to sources, these subscriber expectations need to be drastically reduced if investments are cut.
Warner Media planned to make a $1B investment in the service. After lining up a lot of talent to host unique programming on the service, the subscription numbers don’t appear to be holding up.
CNN+ launched on Tuesday, March 29 and is already showing mediocre results in terms of standalone mobile app installs. Sensor Tower released its initial figures (first reported by Insider) that show the CNN app, which now houses the new streaming service, added about 18,000 installs on the day of launch. It averaged 9,000 installations per day over the 7 days that ended March 22.
CNN’s new service includes a mix of daily news panels and documentaries such as “The Land of the Giants: Titans of Tech,” “The Murdochs: Empire of Influence,” as well as CNN anchors Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer, Don Lemon, Jake Tapper and more.
Now, because the service is bundled into the regular CNN app, it’s PossibleThese numbers could be significantly higher than those shown in this article. But multiple reports indicate that the numbers are not impressive, leading to speculation that CNN will dramatically cut its investment into the new service, and with a new top boss coming in after Jeff Zucker’s ouster earlier this year, the fate of the network is unknown.
It’s worth noting that CNN spent hundreds of millions on its launch. Fox News started Fox Nation in 2009, but only 1.5 million people have signed up for it three years later.
The company says the numbers are still good.
It’s a strong start. Couldn’t feel better about about the journalism, the storytelling, the team, the product or the customer response. https://t.co/JUr9SxBN5c
— Andrew Morse (@morsea) April 5, 2022
But it’s a tough sell. CNN’s cable channel can’t even break one million viewers during prime time, lagging behind MSNBC and far behind Fox News. And it’s been pretty bad for a while. How could there be an expectation that all of the Americans rejecting CNN when it’s free would somehow be on board with paying a monthly fee to stream it on their phone or TV? It’s absurd.
A service like Disney+, HBO Max or HBO Max can make millions within its first year. You can find a wide range of old and new content in their libraries. CNN, however is not a cable news channel with a library in high demand. There’s nothing that really lures a new audience in. There’s no logical reason to assume that two million people will sign up for a service provided by a cable network that Americans don’t seem to trust much anymore.
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