CNN can’t seem to get it together, but it only has itself to blame.
For the beleaguered news channel, February was a month spent either being completely lackluster and forgettable to earning headlines thanks to its most identifiable host being horrifically sexist.
According to Mediaite, CNN tanked in viewership in February, seeing paltry numbers that hadn’t been seen for the network in over a decade. Moreover, its new morning program featuring Don Lemon is bleeding out as well:
February saw CNN hit lows in the demo not seen in over ten years. CNN prime time demo average of 122,000 viewers, while still above MSNBC’s 119,000, marked the network’s smallest audience since 2013. Additionally, CNN’s 89,000 total day demo viewers was its worst showing since 2012. CNN saw a 41 percent drop in total day demo viewers from January, while Fox News dropped 35 percent and MSNBC was down 6 percent.
CNN’s new morning show, CNN This Morning, also saw its lowest numbers since its launch last fall. CNN This Morning brought in 360,000 average total viewers and 73,000 average demo viewers for the month. By comparison, Fox & Friends averaged 1.2 million total viewers and 170,000 average demo viewers for the month. MNSBC’s Morning Joe brought in 895,000 total viewers and 107,000 demo viewers.
CNN’s continued mistake of being the story instead of telling the stories plagues it. Those who do watch it because it confirms their radically leftist bias keep it afloat but it appears that some viewers simply watch it like a NASCAR race, hoping to see a wreck happen but becoming bored and tuning out when it never happens.
Not that they don’t happen. Lemon’s massive mess-up in February was one for the books. His insults against Nikki Haley actually united both the left and the right in denouncing his sexism. While it put CNN back into the public conversation, it wasn’t positive attention and could possibly send some viewers elsewhere for their news.
The ratings for CNN will improve as we drift closer to 2024 and the presidential races heat up, but this won’t save CNN. In order to regain lost viewers, it will have to first regain integrity. This will mean parting ways with some of its most divisive hosts and seeing to it that the network comes back to the center, or at least as centered as it can get.
Until then, people will ignore CNN, only paying attention to it when like a misbehaving child that thrives on attention, even if it’s negative.
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