CNN’s ratings continue to struggle, falling behind cable channels like the Food Network and Hallmark Channel following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election.
Despite a busy news cycle with Trump cabinet announcements, the murder of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson, and chaos in Syria, the ratings were dismal for the network’s primetime shows like “Anderson Cooper 360” and “The Source with Kaitlan Collins” during the week of Dec. 2, Fox News reported.
The evening lineup averaged a total of 367,000 total viewers between 8-11 p.m. In comparison, Fox News averaged 2.5 million total primetime viewers last week.
The audience for CNN wasn’t just less than Food Network, Fox News, and Hallmark Channel, but also MSNBC, ESPN, Freeform, TNT, Discovery, INSP, Hallmark Mystery, TLC, TBS, History, HGTV, USA, and Paramount. In fact, it came in 17th in cable in primetime, the outlet noted.
In the coveted age demographic of 25-54, the news was even worse for the Ted Turner-founded network, with only 67,000 average viewers, the outlet noted. This put CNN behind channels like TV Land, MTV, Adult Swim, Nick at Nite, and Comedy Central in the key demographic.
Fox News Channel, in comparison, averaged 280,000 viewers during primetime last week in the key age demo.
Reacting to the news, Charlie Kirk said it was one more sign that legacy media was done.
“This is devastating for the legacy cable news media,” Kirk wrote on X. “People are rejecting them and turning to resources like ‘The Charlie Kirk Show,’ Bongino, Megyn Kelly, Joe Rogan, and War Room.”
“And they’re coming to X for real-time breaking news,” he added. “We are living through a dramatic tectonic shift that will change the course of history.”
The news comes after CNN and MSNBC’s ratings had already plummeted after Trump’s landslide victory against Vice President Kamala Harris in the election last month, as previously reported.
According to Nielsen data, coverage of Trump’s election victory throughout the day on CNN on Thursday — just after the election — brought in 419,000 total viewers and in the key age demographic, just 91,000 viewers, Mediaite noted.
Over on MSNBC, the network had a total for the entire day of 596,000 viewers — and in the coveted age demographic, a total of 71,000 viewers.
Year over year, CNN’s audience was down 40 percent, while MSNBC’s numbers were also down 23 percent.
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