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CNN Ratings Crater Again, Notching Lowest In Nine Years

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Things have gone from bad to worse at CNN despite shedding some talent and changing the programming lineup.

“CNN just notched its lowest ratings in nine years across all its day parts for the week of Jan. 16 through Jan. 22, 2023, according to Nielsen averaging just 444,000 viewers in primetime, 93,000 in the all-important age 25-54 news demographic and 417,000 in viewers and 80,000 in the demo for total day,” The Wrap reported on Friday. “It’s the first time since May 2014 that the network failed to reach 450,000 viewers.”

“By comparison, during the same period Fox News drew 1.4 million viewers and 176,000 in the demo while MSNBC notched 629,000 total viewers and 69,000 in the demo. In primetime, Fox News had 2 million viewers, 256,000 in the demo and MSNBC had 943,000 viewers and 91,000 in the demo,” the report continued, adding that the new morning show featuring co-stars Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow, and Kaitlin Collins is also tanking.

The show “also suffered the lowest week since its launch just three months ago,” The Wrap reported.

CEO Chris Licht, who has made several changes, appears to have made another: According to the report, “CNN This Morning” executive producer Eric Hall was being reassigned to “CNN Tonight,” hosted by Laura Coates, “signaling that Licht is aware that the show needs to perform better,” the report said. The morning show managed to draw just 331,000 viewers, while “Fox & Friends” pulled in more than 1.2 million and “Morning Joe” some 760,000.

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One insider told The Wrap that the three co-hosts also appear to be frustrated with the show’s progression after Licht hand-selected them for the gig.

“The show can’t decide strategically what exactly it is, so it’s trying to be everything which can create whiplash for a viewer when segments seem off-brand in tonality,” the insider told The Wrap. “The audience for morning news on network TV is different than the cable news audience and since we’re not gaining new viewers we definitely need to retain our legacy ones.”

More changes are coming to the network’s daytime programming, but the insider said, “Upcoming programming changes are likely to make matters worse.”

Meanwhile, the news keeps getting better for the Fox News channel as it keeps dominating the ratings in every conceivable way.

The network has just learned that its afternoon show, “The Five,” is not only the most popular show on the network, but it is also the most show in all of cable news.

The show averaged a total audience of 3.332 million viewers for the week that ended January 22nd, Nielsen ratings showed, Forbes reported.

And not only did “The Five” dominate but Fox News as a network dominated.

“After The Five, the highest-rated shows of the week were Tucker Carlson Tonight (3.086 million viewers), Jesse Watters Primetime (2.647 million viewers), Hannity (2.386 million viewers) and Special Report with Bret Baier (2.367 million viewers)—all airing on the Fox News Channel,” the report said.

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In prime, Fox News led the cable news networks with an average total audience of 1.996 million viewers—beating CNN and MSNBC combined. Overall, Fox had fully 92 of the 100 highest-rated cable news telecasts for the week.

Among viewers 25-54, the demographic group most valued by advertisers, Tucker Carlson Tonight was first with 442,000 viewers, followed by The Five (374,000 viewers), Hannity (303,000 viewers), Jesse Watters Primetime (266,000 viewers) and Special Report with Bret Baier (256,000 viewers).

A week ago, Fox News host Dan Bongino got some big news after it was revealed his show reigned supreme in the ratings. A report from Ad Week found that Bongino’s show on Saturday night was the most-watched primetime show in all of cable news.

In the 9 p.m. ET time slot, Bongino racked up 1.19 million total viewers. In the same time slot, CNN had 219,000 and MSNBC secured 315,000 total viewers. In the 8 p.m. ET time slot, Fox News host Brian Kilmeade received 1.06 million total viewers. CNN secured 282,000 total viewers and MSNBC has 282,000 in that same slot.

Bongino made headlines last month when he tore into President Joe Biden and Democrats for depicting a “prettier picture” than the status of the nation’s reality.

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