<p class="p1"><span class="s1">CNN last week dropped to 15th place in prime time viewership, suffering a double-digit decline that put it behind the <i>Food Network.</i> </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1"><em>Fox News</em> remains in first place with an average of 2.5 million prime time viewers. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">MSNCB is in third place with 1.77 million. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><strong><span class="s1">CNN’s average is 783,000.</span></strong></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">In terms of daytime viewership, CNN averaged 613,000 viewers compared to Fox’s 1.44 million and MSNBC’s 1.01 million. </span><span class="s1">Compared to last year, CNN’s prime time ratings for the month of April are down 26%. MSNBC is down 14%, and <em>Fox News</em> has remained consistent. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">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. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><strong><span class="s1">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&#8217;s also the fact that up to 89 million people who don&#8217;t watch CNN still pay for the network. </span></strong></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">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. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">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. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">CNN had better pray for a Trump victory in 2020 because without Trump to complain about, its viewers won’t have anything to watch. </span></p>
<p><strong>Editor&#8217;s note:</strong> This is a very simple principle in marketing. Trash someone who is on top, it&#8217;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 &#8220;Trump and a criminal&#8221; meme), even some liberals are starting to realize the fraud of the anti-Trump genre of media.</p>
<p>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?).</p>
<p>But then again, don&#8217;t hold your breath&#8230;</p>