CNN Coming Apart as Best-Rated Show Lands in 25th Place, Can't Break 1,000,000 Viewers
The old joke about CNN is that it’s the official channel of airline terminals. However, when Chris Cuomo is your top-rated host and he barely made the top 25 in cable news ratings and couldn’t even break a million viewers, I wonder if even the folks at Dulles are putting you on anymore.
According to Adweek’s TV Newser, things were generally good if you were at Fox News or MSNBC. Things were especially good if you were at the former.
“Fox News was home to four of the top five shows on cable news for May 2019, with Sean Hannity leading the charge for the fourth consecutive month,” Adweek reported last week.
“Hannity averaged 3.13 million total viewers with 506,000 [adult viewers between 25 and 54] for the month of May.”
“Fox News’ signature show was a tiny bit up from April in total viewers, but -4% in total viewers and -22% among adults 25-54 vs. the program’s May 2018 delivery.”
“Tucker Carlson leapfrogged Rachel Maddow into the No. 2 spot, both in total viewers and among adults 25-54. He was one of the few cable news programs to actually post year-over-year improvement in total audience (+6%), however, he, too, was down year-over-year in the demo [along with Hannity] (-9%).”
And then there was CNN and Chris Cuomo.
“Cuomo Prime Time hosted by Chris Cuomo was CNN’s top show of the month, averaging 938,000 total viewers (No.25 across cable news), and 228,000 A25-54 demo viewers (No. 14 across cable news).”
Those who do tune in to Cuomo tend to hear defensive, anti-Trump whining like this:
This is America. We don’t have presidents who punish companies that don’t flatter him. Nothing great again about taking America down the path of the despot. We have never had a President call for Americans to boycott a company he doesn’t like. pic.twitter.com/U09NzyUzd5
— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) June 4, 2019
Is it any wonder no one’s watching?
To be fair, “Anderson Cooper 360” finished 26th, too. And Anderson Cooper actually comes across as someone who isn’t a very upset android, unlike Cuomo, so there’s that.
Besides those two outliers, most of CNN’s shows were clustered between 33rd (“Erin Burnett Outfront”) and 40th (“Inside Politics”).
The only other show that was ranked was “Early Start” — CNN’s program for early risers, between 4 and 6 a.m.
Even then, it finished third among shows aimed at either the extreme morning person or the insomniac. Apparently, even that crowd prefers “Fox & Friends First” and MSNBC’s “First Look.”
In fact, “New Day” — CNN’s proper morning show, which airs between 6 and 9 a.m. — lost out to “Fox & Friends First.” Good work, guys. Needless to say, it also finished third to “Fox & Friends” and “Morning Joe” on MSNBC.
“Fox & Friends” averaged 1,513,000 viewers, “Morning Joe” 1,053,000 viewers and “New Day” a solid 485,000, most of whom were probably busy checking the time on their cell phones and regretting taking the first flight out of Newark when it was just going to be delayed until who knows when.
CNN’s performance in the 25-54 demographic that advertisers love was better, but not by much, and the network couldn’t get higher than 14th with Cuomo. Fox News was still in the top two spots.
And, according to TV Newser, this was a “mixed May for CNN in the ratings department.”
“The good news for the network is that it beat its rival MSNBC in the A25-54 demo — the one valued most by news advertisers — during dayside hours for the 63rd consecutive month, as well as across total day. It also beat MSNBC weekends in the key demo, and earned a top 10 ranking in total day viewers across basic cable (No. 8) for the 17th consecutive month. No small feat.
“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.”
The question almost asks itself: Is Larry King still available? Did his time with RT sully him too much?
I guess when it comes to straight news — what the networks say they’re peddling during the day, no matter how much they aren’t — the CNN name still carries some cachet.
At night, well, not so much. The fact that they can barely even crack the top 25 is proof.
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