How Low Can CNN Go? Primetime Ratings Reach 33-Year Low as Insiders Brace for 'Bloodbath' of Staff Cuts
Less than an average of 80,000 people aged 25 to 54 tuned into CNN last week during its primetime line-up.
June 27 2024, Published 10:15 a.m. ET
Less than an average of 80,000 people aged 25 to 54 tuned into CNN last week during its primetime line-up — a ratings low that dated back all the way to 1991.
RadarOnline.com has viewed ratings data from Nielsen that shows CNN averaged just 77,000 viewers in the coveted 25-54 demographic, a benchmark considered in television to lure advertising dollars.
The challenge puts significant pressure on CNN’s high-priced superstar anchors.
The challenge puts significant pressure on CNN’s high-priced superstar anchors including Erin Burnett, Anderson Cooper, and Kaitlin Collins who are at the epicenter of the network’s struggle to compete with MSNBC and Fox News.
As this site previously reported, Collins and Abby Phillip, who fronts the hour after The Source with Kaitlan Collins, have been called "uncomfortable anchors" who are increasingly seen across the industry as an "irreparable failure."
One high-level talent agent was even overheard referring to Phillip as “Ambien Phillip” because she is so staid and lifeless as an anchor.
CNN’s ongoing woes will doubtless lead to a “bloodbath” of staff firings expected to come from new chief executive officer Mark Thompson, according to a network insider who spoke to RadarOnline.com.
CNN’s ongoing woes will doubtless lead to a “bloodbath” of staff firings expected to come from new chief executive officer Mark Thompson.
“The CNN business model is dead and that means hundreds of jobs are on the line and most of them are going to come from the high-priced side of the business: creating television,” the source told RadarOnline.com.
“What is the point of creating expensive television if no-one is watching? Everyone is bracing for impact. It is going to be a bloodbath.”
CNN has been at the center of controversy for years — going from one boss to another — ever since RadarOnline.com revealed one-time leader Jeff Zucker had engaged in a scandalous affair with the network’s public relations chief.
Zucker was forced to resign in the wake of the scandal, leading to the ill-fated Chris Licht era which also saw the demise of one-time popular host Don Lemon after a series of behind-the-scenes problems.
The ill-fated Chris Licht era which saw the demise of one-time popular host Don Lemon after a series of behind-the-scenes problems.
The supposed most trusted name in news is also facing a billion-dollar defamation lawsuit from a decorated U.S. Navy veteran who was slandered in secret, internal correspondences, as we revealed.
Network stars Jake Tapper and Alex Marquardt linked Zachary Young to black market operations and the exploitation of individuals trapped in Afghanistan through charging exorbitant prices for their liberation.
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But prior to the broadcast, Young — who served four years in the Navy — informed CNN’s Marquardt his proposed segment was full of inaccuracies.
Marquardt and Tapper aired it regardless, after it received approval from the network’s top brass of senior, upper-level executives and internal monitors, whose approval was required for stories of a potentially damaging nature.
CNN is also facing a billion-dollar defamation lawsuit from a U.S. Navy veteran who was slandered in secret correspondences between Jake Tapper and Alex Marquardt.
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As this publication first detailed, internal communications exposed in the Florida case revealed how CNN staffers believed the report was “very much not ready for prime time” and was “full of holes like Swiss cheese” — but nevertheless broadcast it in a supposed “rush."
While the network will see record numbers when it broadcasts the first presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the viewership windfall will be short-lived, most predict.
“Thompson and his digital growth chief Alex MacCallum are mere weeks away from unveiling their plan to transform the network into a multi-platform business,” said media watcher Dylan Byers, a correspondent at Puck News and former CNN staffer.
“That plan will require implementing a new round of staff cuts across the organization. These layoffs, which will be announced in July, will certainly be far more strategic than the hundreds of exits that Chris Licht implemented in late 2022—and, uncomfortable as they may be, they represent meaningful forward momentum. But they’ll still be substantial, and painful.”
Beyers said CNN would inevitably return to the “exact same circumstances in which it finds itself today” after the debate: averaging half a million total viewers on any given night, and “struggling to assert its value in a crowded news environment.”
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