CNN got some bad news on its May ratings. Namely, that they continued to trend into dumpster fire territory.
While CNN is bragging that it beat MSNBC in the daytime ratings, the real meat of it’s programming in prime time continued to get shellacked by the other liberal network and absolutely destroyed by Fox News. Here are some of the numbers.
The not-so-good news is that CNN stumbled in prime time relative to recent months and years, finishing a distant third place behind Fox News and MSNBC in the relevant categories, and dropping out of the top 15 basic cable networks in total prime time viewers altogether.
Compared with what the network averaged in May 2018 , CNN was -9% in total prime time viewers, -16% in total day viewers, 30% in the prime time demo, and -31% in the total day demo this month.
Primary debate season can’t come soon enough for a network which thrives on big event coverage.
Compared to May 2018, where CNN was riding the collusion hoax train to the bank everyday, they are essentially collapsing. This is especially bad because this May included the 2020 Democrat primary race, which has been heating up since April. Despite that, CNN dropped out of the top 15 in viewership during prime time.
That means reruns on The Food Network are beating out their prime time lineup. This is how bad things look.
Primetime (Mon-Sun): 761,000 Total Viewers / 185,000 A25-54
There are conservative blogs that pull in more eyes than that.
In response, CNN continued it’s Baghdad Bob routine by putting out this press release.
CNN BEATS MSNBC IN TOTAL DAY AMONG ADULTS 25-54 IN MAY
Tops MSNBC in Dayside Demo for 63rd Straight Month; Longest Streak on Record
CNN Posts Third-Highest May in 11 Years in Weekday Prime Time in Total Viewers
Outperforms MSNBC on Weekends in Demo
CNN Ranks as Top 10 Network in All of Cable for 17th Consecutive Month
This is like bragging that your professional baseball team won the city softball league. Congrats on beating out Nicole Wallace and Katy Tur. Quite the feat there CNN. Notice Fox News isn’t mentioned anywhere because they are getting killed by them, even in daytime ratings.
As the layoffs keep coming at CNN, it’s clear they are losing money at this point. You can’t sustain their level of spending by winning the daytime demo over a marginal liberal news network. Prime time is where the bread is buttered and CNN’s ratings are hilariously awful. Fox News is garnering 3-4x the viewership in the same time slots.
CNN is like your old friend from high school who never amounted to anything but still wants to be treated like the king of the school. We’ve reached the point where they don’t even deserve the relevancy they are given. When Chris Cuomo is your lead draw and Don Lemon is considered an “anchor,” that doesn’t strike me as a recipe for success. The numbers bear that out.
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