Gayle King and Charles Barkley's CNN Show 'King Charles' Suffers Lowest Ratings Yet Two Months After Launch
Gayle King and Charles Barkley’s new CNN show, "King Charles," suffered its worst ratings yet this week.
Feb. 2 2024, Published 4:30 p.m. ET
Gayle King and Charles Barkley’s new CNN show, King Charles, suffered its worst ratings yet this week, RadarOnline.com can report.
In a surprising development to come just weeks after King Charles launched on CNN on November 29, the new news program co-hosted by King and Barkley barely brought in more than 400,000 total viewers during its latest episode.
The new news program co-hosted by King and Barkley barely brought in more than 400,000 total viewers during its latest episode.
According to numbers shared by Nielsen, King Charles's Wednesday episode only brought in a total of 402,000 viewers.
Of the 402,000 viewers who tuned in this week, only 89,000 were of the all-important 25-54 advertising demographic.
Other shows that aired at the same time as King Charles on Wednesday night – such as repeats of Seinfeld, Friends, Modern Family, Everybody Loves Raymond, and South Park – received far better ratings than King and Barkley’s new CNN show.
According to Nielsen, Wednesday night’s episode of King Charles marked the first time the show failed to garner more than 100,000 viewers in the 25-54 advertising demographic.
According to numbers shared by Nielsen, "King Charles" only brought in a total of 402,000 viewers when it aired on Wednesday at 10 PM.
The show’s ratings on Wednesday night were down a whopping 20% in total viewers compared to its premiere on November 29. It was also down a startling 36% in the 25-54 demo compared to its November premiere.
Meanwhile, King Charles has mostly failed to bring in more than 500,000 total viewers in its seven weeks since launch.
Although the show premiered with a modest 501,000 total viewers on November 29, it has dropped steadily in the weeks since – except for one episode on January 17 that saw a strong 517,000 total viewers tune in.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, the numbers shared by Nielsen this week do not bode well for the future of King Charles despite the fact it only premiered seven weeks ago.
Of the 402,000 viewers who tuned in this week, only 89,000 were of the all-important 25-54 advertising demographic.
In December, just two weeks after the show launched, media insiders suggested that CNN was already reconsidering the King and Barkley-led program.
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Sources close to CNN cited King and Barkley’s conflicting personalities as one reason why King Charles may not last as long as the network’s execs had once hoped.
"Gayle enjoys being breezy and conversational but she still considers herself a serious journalist," one insider explained in December.
Sources close to CNN cited King and Barkley’s conflicting personalities as one reason why King Charles may not last as long as the network’s execs had once hoped.
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"Meanwhile, Charles has a style he's honed as a TV sports commentator — boastful, outrageous and always with an opinion, even if it isn't factual and he knows little to nothing about the topic,” the source added.
Another media insider expressed similar concerns about the future of King Charles.
"Gayle tells Charles he should really study up on serious topics they discuss on their King Charles show and really pore over the producer's notes to bone up on a subject," that source spilled. "But Charles is like: I got to be me.”
"CNN wants this show to be something everyone talks about, but Gayle doesn't want it to be at the expense of her reputation,” they added.
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