CNN last week dropped to 15th place in prime time viewership, suffering a double-digit decline that put it behind the Food Network.
Fox News remains in first place with an average of 2.5 million prime time viewers.
MSNCB is in third place with 1.77 million.
CNN’s average is 783,000.
In terms of daytime viewership, CNN averaged 613,000 viewers compared to Fox’s 1.44 million and MSNBC’s 1.01 million. Compared to last year, CNN’s prime time ratings for the month of April are down 26%. MSNBC is down 14%, and Fox News has remained consistent.
CNN’s most successful show is “Chris Cuomo Primetime,” which averages 917,000 viewers. Compare that to the most-watched “Hannity,” which averages over 3 million viewers.
The only good news here is that CNN’s dismal viewership last week is an improvement over the previous week, when it lost nearly 50% of viewers. There’s also the fact that up to 89 million people who don’t watch CNN still pay for the network.
Analysts say the decline in viewership is related to Robert Mueller’s conclusion that President Trump did not conspire with Russia to win the 2016 election.
CNN, which advertises itself as an objective news outlet, spent tens of thousands of hours supporting the Russia conspiracy theory. And the debunking of that theory understandably makes viewers feel betrayed.
CNN had better pray for a Trump victory in 2020 because without Trump to complain about, its viewers won’t have anything to watch.
Editor’s note: This is a very simple principle in marketing. Trash someone who is on top, it’s always a ratings win. The extremeness of this narrative provides for a fun and competitive political game, but with the arrival of the Mueller Report (and its lack of support for the “Trump and a criminal” meme), even some liberals are starting to realize the fraud of the anti-Trump genre of media.
I believe a Trump victory will give CNN four more years to turn themselves around. Since there will be no further opportunity to deny Trump a second term, perhap CNN will calm down on its anti-Trump rhetoric and find some other ways to get ratings (maybe even reporting unbiased facts?).
But then again, don’t hold your breath…