The cable news channel CNN has suffered its lowest primetime ratings since 1991, in yet another indication that traditional television news coverage, as well as increasingly left-wing media, has taken a massive hit to its viewership in recent years.
As reported by the New York Post, the week of May 13th through May 19th saw the channel’s 8 PM to 11 PM programming draw just 83,000 viewers in the most crucial demographic of viewers between the ages of 25 and 54.
In that same time period, Fox News saw over 186,000 viewers in the same demographic and the same time slots.
MSNBC came in second with 111,000 viewers.
CNN’s 8-11 PM programming consists of Anderson Cooper’s “AC360” at 8 PM, followed by “The Source with Kaitlan Collins” at 9 PM, and concluding with “CNN NewsNight,” hosted by Abby Phillip, at 10 PM.
The channel’s overall weekly performance saw just 494,000.
By contrast, Fox News saw over 2 million in the same week, while MSNBC saw 1.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen Ratings.
The horrendous performance has put CNN’s new boss Mark Thompson under even greater scrutiny, as well as the CEO of CNN’s parent company Discovery, David Zaslav.
“Thompson better get his act together before he completely destroys CNN,” said one anonymous TV news producer.
“It seems like he’s thrown in the towel regarding cable.”
Since becoming CEO of Discovery, Zaslav first attempted to turn around CNN’s decline by hiring Chris Licht to run the network; Licht left after just 13 months in his position, where he was succeeded by Thompson. Thompson left the primetime lineup unchanged, while instead attempting to revamp the morning lineup.
“Zaslav went to a programmer in Licht,” said an anonymous producer.
“Now he went to a guy that doesn’t know how to program TV.”
Nevertheless, a spokesman for CNN tried to spin the numbers as positive for the network, claiming that the channel’s primetime ratings are “all growing year over year” among the target 25-54 bloc. The spokesman further claimed that if the 7 PM program of “Erin Burnett Outfront” is added to the primetime lineup, alongside the rebroadcast of Anderson Cooper’s show at midnight, then CNN is “registering double-digit, year-over-year growth” in its ratings.
“CNN’s new name is Canceled Network Now,” said an anonymous media insider. “Young people are as interested in Anderson Cooper as they are in Liza Minnelli.”
