CNN has been struggling in the ratings department for quite some time now, but this Tuesday the network pulled in its lowest audience in 24 years among the demographic most highly coveted by advertisers. And yet, the company will still not get the message. Viewers are sick and tired of the “war on Trump.” Start covering real news with a balanced perspective and maybe things will change. Unfortunately, I highly doubt that’s going to happen.
According to a new report from Fox News, CNN pulled only 61,000 viewers from the 25-54 demographic on Nov. 11. This is the smallest viewership from this group of folks since June 27, 2000, which was when Bill Clinton was still in the White House.
CNN also had its worst turnout during daytime programming in a decade on Tuesday, as the struggling network managed only 60,000 average demo viewers from 9 a.m. through 5 p.m. ET for its worst non-holiday weekday rating since 2014. CNN has failed to gain viewers despite President-elect Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. The news has barely slowed up since Trump made history by becoming just the second president ever to win non-consecutive terms, with Harris’ concession, breaking stories about his Cabinet picks and the ugly Democratic Party blame game driving the cycle.
But the nonstop flow of breaking news hasn’t helped CNN. Since Election Day, CNN averaged only 403,000 total day viewers compared to 2.2 million for Fox News. CNN has even a smaller share of the cable news audience during the primetime hours of 8-11 p.m. ET, as the struggling network has managed only 483,000 total viewers since Election Day compared to 3.4 million for Fox News. When it comes to the key demo, CNN has averaged only 86,000 critical today day viewers compared to 321,000 for Fox News. During primetime, CNN has averaged 112,000 demo viewers compared to 496,000 for Fox News.
CNN did pretty bad on Election Day too. In fact, the network had a much smaller viewing audience between 8-11 pm than Fox, MSNBC — that one had to hurt — ABC, and NBC for coverage of what should have been the ratings event of the year. I think that might just be a sign of things to come.
The real question is whether or not CNN recognizes that cable television news is on the way out. Most people get news these days from independent publications, YouTube, and podcasts. Joe Rogan has a massive audience that typical mainstream media outlets can only dream about. We’re on the cusp of another information revolution. The internet changed things and now it’s changing them again.
"*" indicates required fields
