CNN Sees One of Its Lowest Ratings Ever as Massive Layoffs Loom [View all]

Source: Daily Beast

Updated Dec. 19 2024 1:56PM EST / Published Dec. 19 2024 12:39PM EST


CNN’s ratings woes reached a new low this year, plunging in in a key age group—all as the Warner Bros. Discovery network is set to lay off hundreds. The network managed to score second place between Fox News and MSNBC in a year-end average of the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demographic, averaging 92,000 total-day viewers, according to Nielsen data obtained by Mediaite.

While that beat MSNBC, which averaged 86,000 total-day viewers in the demo this year, it is still CNN’s lowest demo average ever—down 1 percent from last year’s previous low of 94,000. (All networks were up in primetime viewers this year, likely due to the election.) The blow comes as Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav reportedly seeks to cut hundreds from CNN’s payroll, coinciding with its planned digital-first strategy and its vanishing viewership. Just last month, MSNBC beat CNN on election night, once CNN’s crown jewel of programming, for the first time ever.

One CNN staffer told the Daily Beast that staff has been kept in the dark on any layoff news, and all they’re learning about what’s coming is from public reports. “Everyone’s just waiting,” they said. The source also noted the specter of a sale, particularly as Zaslav siloed CNN and other cable networks as part of a “Linear Global Networks” division in a company restructure last week.

The move has launched speculation that Zaslav could be open to selling off companies—and networks—should Donald Trump’s second presidency offer a better regulatory environment. A CNN journalist blamed the flailing ratings to the Ankler on a poor job covering Trump. “When we were aggressively covering Trump, we did well,” they told the publication. “When we are flaccid covering him, the ratings tank.”

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