CNN Faces Record Low Ratings Amid Strategic Overhaul

[Social Media]

 

CNN has reached a troubling milestone, hitting its lowest total day demo rating in the network’s history. Among the key 24-to-54-year-old demographic, known as “demo viewers,” CNN's audience has dropped by one percent from last year, according to data from Nielsen Media Research reported by Mediaite. Last year, the network recorded a daily demo audience of 94,000, but that number has now declined to 92,000.  

 

The network’s struggles are evident in its shrinking prime-time audience, particularly after the 2024 election. CNN accounted for just 11 percent of cable news viewers during prime time last month. Since Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential victory, the network’s prime-time viewership has plummeted by 52 percent. Currently, its prime-time demo audience averages 77,000 viewers, highlighting the steep decline.  

 

Despite the grim numbers, CNN's average total day viewership showed a slight three percent increase from last year, reaching 488,000 viewers. However, among demo viewers, CNN fared better than MSNBC but continued to trail behind Fox News. The network’s top programs, including *Anderson Cooper 360*, *The Source with Kaitlan Collins*, and *CNN News Night with Abby Phillip*, averaged just 367,000 viewers last week, as reported by Fox News.  

 

In response to these challenges, CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, has unveiled a significant restructuring plan aimed at addressing the network’s ratings slump and setting a course for future growth. The company announced its new operating model, which will divide its operations into two distinct divisions: Global Linear Networks and Streaming & Studios.  

 

The Global Linear Networks division will focus on television programming, including news, sports, and both scripted and unscripted content. Meanwhile, the Streaming & Studios division will center on digital platforms and fostering strategic opportunities, particularly in the entertainment sector.  

 

David Zaslav, President and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, expressed optimism about the changes, stating, “Since the combination that created Warner Bros. Discovery, we have transformed our business and improved our financial position while providing world-class entertainment to global audiences.”  

 

With these shifts in strategy, CNN and its parent company hope to reverse the downward trend and reestablish their position in an increasingly competitive media landscape.  

 

Based on a report by Daily Mail 2024-12-19

 

 

 

[Cryingdick]

The problem is CNN has become boring. Doesn't matter what side you are on. I used to watch CNN like ten years ago. Loved Quest means business and a few other things. Their anchors are so robotic. I used to enjoy Cooper but find him unwatchable now when he is obviously listening to his ear piece while he constant;ly blinks robotically. 

 

Nobody on the shoe seems natural or human. There are other things wrong with CNN but they are boring as duck.

[RichardColeman]

CNN became a left wing democrat streaming platform - not a news one. News needs to be unbiased and not a left wing rant !

 

Overall, we rate CNN moderately left-center biased based on editorial positions by TV hosts that consistently favor the left,

[Cryingdick]

33 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

CNN became a left wing democrat streaming platform - not a news one. News needs to be unbiased and not a left wing rant !

 

Overall, we rate CNN moderately left-center biased based on editorial positions by TV hosts that consistently favor the left,

it's more than that. It it's poorly produced. It's boring lifeless and they should hire better looking people. Connie Chung was known as a great anchor at one point but it is because people were mesmerized by her almond shaped eyes and big boobs. Other than that they all just read from a prompter which is nothing exceptional.

[jippytum]

No suprisre here.

Even the few die hard  supporters they had are shocked at the lies and deceit portrayed in an effort to unlawfully discredit Trump pre election. 

[jcmj]

They should go back to sticking with the regular news and international news instead of focusing on the political news. People are tired of that being shoved in their faces daily. I stopped years ago. Same old boring people and news. 

[JonnyF]

It's not a news channel, it is propaganda. 

 

Now their lies have been so brutally exposed, why bother watching? Unless you need material for gaslighting on internet forums of course, but then you have The Guardian (for now). 

[lordgrinz]

Tabloid news worked so well in the supermarket checkout aisles, though not so much when pretending to be a legitimate news organization.

[Cryingdick]

13 minutes ago, jcmj said:

They should go back to sticking with the regular news and international news instead of focusing on the political news. People are tired of that being shoved in their faces daily. I stopped years ago. Same old boring people and news. 

 

They would go bankrupt very quickly if they did that. 

[thaibeachlovers]

It's what happens when all a news source has is anti Trump propaganda.

Apparently their ratings dropped when Trump lost. It must have been their dream come true when Trump decided to run again.

[mr336]

Maybe Joe can bail them out before he passes or leaves. 

[Hanaguma]

Big problem is that there is less news and more "analysis". Which usually consists of a panel with one conservative and 4 or 5 flaming liberals, hosted by another liberal.  It gets tired real fast. 

 

And yeah, Quest was a blast. I also even watched Don Lemon back in the day before he became a political tool.  Same with Jake Tapper. Used to be more of a journalist and less a propagandist.

[novacova]

6 hours ago, Social Media said:

With these shifts in strategy, CNN and its parent company hope to reverse the downward trend and reestablish their position in an increasingly competitive media landscape.

It’s not going to work unless they stop the lies because many of the gullible do eventually snap out of it 

[mokwit]

2 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

CNN became a left wing democrat streaming platform - not a news one. News needs to be unbiased and not a left wing rant !

 

Overall, we rate CNN moderately left-center biased based on editorial positions by TV hosts that consistently favor the left,

It was worse than that, a prior CEO since removed stated that CNN's purpose was to get [democratically elected} Trump out of office.

[dinsdale]

6 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

The problem is CNN has become boring. Doesn't matter what side you are on. I used to watch CNN like ten years ago. Loved Quest means business and a few other things. Their anchors are so robotic. I used to enjoy Cooper but find him unwatchable now when he is obviously listening to his ear piece while he constant;ly blinks robotically. 

 

Nobody on the shoe seems natural or human. There are other things wrong with CNN but they are boring as duck.

Disagree. The entire legacy media has been shown for what it is. No longer NEWS but an opinion based mouthpiece for the progressive left. People abandoned the progressive left in the election and are also abandoning the legacy media.

[Marcous]

After the Trump win, people have tuned out of politics because it's just going to be 4 more years of ridiculous lies and B/S. We've already seen it and it's tiresome.

[Isaan sailor]

Somehow, CNN got itself into US airport lounges.  I hope that contract has ended.

[Sheryl]

I stopped watching CNN years ago because way too much "talking heads" vs actual news. 

 

In their heyday it was news, news, news. Hourly updates,  live coverage. Not anymore. 

[riclag]

1 hour ago, Hanaguma said:

Big problem is that there is less news and more "analysis". Which usually consists of a panel with one conservative and 4 or 5 flaming liberals, hosted by another liberal.  It gets tired real fast. 

 

And yeah, Quest was a blast. I also even watched Don Lemon back in the day before he became a political tool.  Same with Jake Tapper. Used to be more of a journalist and less a propagandist.

Jake Tapper echoed the nazi rhetoric!

 
Now that the shoe is on the other foot with

Trump 47 agenda supporters running the country

these leftist  activists pretending to be journalists and their corporate masters 

are on notice!

[alex8912]

It's funny when the main talking heads on this forum all run for cover because even though they know CNNsucks they just can't be unbiased for even ONE sentence to give even some constructive criticism. On the other hand the uber righties on here can sometimes poke fun at FOX.

[impulse]

3 hours ago, Sheryl said:

I stopped watching CNN years ago because way too much "talking heads" vs actual news. 

 

In their heyday it was news, news, news. Hourly updates,  live coverage. Not anymore. 

 

I agree, but even during their "heyday", I'd keep CNN on in my hotel room because it was often the only English language programming.  They had it on a loop where I'd hear the same stories every hour or two.  I honestly think they designed the programming to cater to airport passengers who watch while they're waiting on their flight, and never see how shallow their coverage was.

 

I think their "rescue" in Syria is going to drive another nail in the coffin.

 

[Cryingdick]

10 hours ago, dinsdale said:

Disagree. The entire legacy media has been shown for what it is. No longer NEWS but an opinion based mouthpiece for the progressive left. People abandoned the progressive left in the election and are also abandoning the legacy media.

 

Fox News still manages. Fox is basically right wing opinion. But they do something  about differently their programming gels.  Being opinion based is how you succeed. It's just CNN and MSNBC tend to hire very unappealing people that cater to nobody. Swap out the man hating bald heads and put in hot chicks you get more viewers in a single day. There are many small steps they could try.

 

If Fox can thrive it means at least one left wing channel should be able to. When your staff resemble a Harris admin potential cabinet you are really limiting it. It is television produce that sh!t.

[Cryingdick]

Look at the Five vs the View for example. One is wildly successful. 

[Walker88]

Like much media, CNN has suffered because it splits the intelligent demographic among many networks geared toward an above average intellect demographic (i.e., CNN, MSNBC, PBS, Al Jazeera, NBC and non-cable media)

 

Roger Ailes of Fox had a cynical, albeit brilliant idea to create a network for lesser intellects, assuming actual news was far to complex for them to understand. Instead, he created a venue where everything is black and white and simple. He also knew his demographic wants rage and wants to be angry at something, as it gives their lives meaning. He purposefully chose staff of mediocre intellect, assuming they could relate better to the left-of-the-mean on the IQ Bell Curve that was his target demographic.

 

In his business plan he argued that despite the lesser intellects being less economically successful, if he could draw a majority of them to his network, their combined economic clout would be attractive to advertisers. He was right. He knew his creation would not draw Porsche or Brioni or Audemars Piguet, but it would draw My Pillow, Bud Light, Denny's, the F-150 maker, and tobacco chewers ("Just a pinch between your cheek and gum and it sure feels relaxing").

 

CNN, like other news media (save for Fox, Newsmax and other Fox wannabes), gave the viewing public too much credit for being intelligent. They are far too high brow, whereas guys like Hannity and Watters and Gutfeld are low brow enough to attract the goobers of society. A second problem is that professional journalists saw that news had become entertainment, so far too many argumentative panel shows were put on, Only a few networks like Al Jazeera, BBC, PBS and NHK have maintained programs that do in depth studies of important issues.

[thaibeachlovers]

19 hours ago, Isaan sailor said:

Somehow, CNN got itself into US airport lounges.  I hope that contract has ended.

Not just US airports. I had to put up with CNN in Heathrow.

[impulse]

“As a reporter, I have a confession to make: I should have pushed harder earlier for more information about Joe Biden’s mental and physical well-being and any signs of decline. So let me explain. Joe Biden was president from 2020 to 2024. I worked at CNN through 2022,”

 

‘I Should Have Pushed Harder’: Ex-CNN Analyst Apologizes For Not Probing Into Biden’s ‘Decline’ Sooner | The Daily Caller

 

According to one poster above, that's how they pander to their high intellect viewership.  I almost spat in my cornflakes reading that post.  Fox's low intellect viewers got the truth, and years earlier...  Begging the question, if you know the truth years before the other guy, who's smarter?

 

[JonnyF]

6 hours ago, Walker88 said:

Like much media, CNN has suffered because it splits the intelligent demographic among many networks geared toward an above average intellect demographic (i.e., CNN, MSNBC, PBS, Al Jazeera, NBC and non-cable media)

 

Roger Ailes of Fox had a cynical, albeit brilliant idea to create a network for lesser intellects, assuming actual news was far to complex for them to understand. Instead, he created a venue where everything is black and white and simple. He also knew his demographic wants rage and wants to be angry at something, as it gives their lives meaning. He purposefully chose staff of mediocre intellect, assuming they could relate better to the left-of-the-mean on the IQ Bell Curve that was his target demographic.

 

This post is a great example of the Dunning Kruger effect. 😆

 

A valuable yet amusing insight into why the Dems lost the election so badly. 😂

[riclag]

12 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

 

Fox News still manages. Fox is basically right wing opinion. But they do something  about differently their programming gels.  Being opinion based is how you succeed. It's just CNN and MSNBC tend to hire very unappealing people that cater to nobody. Swap out the man hating bald heads and put in hot chicks you get more viewers in a single day. There are many small steps they could try.

 

If Fox can thrive it means at least one left wing channel should be able to. When your staff resemble a Harris admin potential cabinet you are really limiting it. It is television produce that sh!t.

I’m forced to watch highlights  from

other networks!

When some leftest resemble Msnbc’s Woke  talking points, this race baiter comes to mind!

 

 

They need to loose that race baiter stigma !