March can’t come soon enough for ratings-challenged CNN.
The long-struggling network is on pace to finish February with its smallest monthly audience among the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults age 25-54 since June 2014.
"Anderson Cooper 360," "The Lead with Jake Tapper" and Wolf Blitzer’s "Situation Room" are on pace to their smallest audiences since that same month among the critical demo, while "Inside Politics" is on pace for its least-viewed month among the category since August 2005.
"CNN This Morning," the Don Lemon-centered a.m. show that has generated a ton of negative publicity, is on pace to finish February with its smallest monthly audience among both total viewers and the demo since it launched last year.
CNN INSIDERS SAY DON LEMON HAS 'NO DEFENDERS' AT THE NETWORK, NOT WORTH THE HEADACHE TO KEEP ON-AIR
"CNN This Morning" is averaging a dismal 361,000 total viewers through the first 24 days of the month, down 16% from the 430,000 that CNN’s previous morning show "New Day" managed in February of last year before it was canceled because of poor viewership. When it comes to the audience coveted by advertisers, "CNN This Morning" is managing only 73,000 viewers to lose 13% of the "New Day" audience.
"The Situation Room" and "The Lead with Jake Tapper" are on pace to shed 40% of their demo audiences from Feb. 2022.
Anderson Cooper’s 8 p.m. ET program, the only permanent fixture in CNN’s hapless primetime lineup, is on pace to average only 137,000 demo viewers. By comparison, "Tucker Carlson Tonight" is on pace to averaged 465,000 demo viewers during the same timeslot.
"Anderson Cooper 360" is expected to shed at least 38% of the demo audience it managed the same month last year.
CNN has attempted to fill its 9 p.m. ET slot with a variety of options since it became vacated when Chris Cuomo was shown the door in 2021. A series of specials, fill-in anchors, a Tapper-hosted run-up to midterms and various town halls have occupied the space, with none resonating with Americans enough to earn a permanent place in the primetime lineup.
Last week, Tapper returned to primetime and hosted a CNN town hall on the toxic train disaster in East Palestine, Ohio that ended up being one of the network’s least-viewed programs in recent memory.
The town hall, which aired on Wednesday from 9-11 p.m. ET, managed only 446,000 total viewers and 101,000 among the demo. It was down 27% compared to 2023 CNN programming in the timeslot. Tapper’s town hall also shed a staggering 46% of CNN's 2022 demo viewership during the same slot.
Repeats of Bravo’s "Vanderpump Rules," ESPN’s 2 a.m. ET edition of "SportsCenrter," reruns of "Golden Girls," and "Beavis and Butthead" were among the basic cable programs to outdraw Tapper’s town hall among the key demo.
February also saw Tapper’s top producer lose his job after "hooking up with a subordinate."
It was a wild month for Lemon even aside from ratings, as he insulted woman across America by declaring 51-year-old Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley past her "prime" due to her age. He then apologized to CNN staffers on a conference call that didn’t go over particularly well. Later that day, Lemon raised eyebrows after he was spotted having fun on the beach while vacationing in Miami, fueling criticism that his apology was not sincere. He then missed two additional episodes before returning but declined to address the controversy on air when he eventually returned.
The free publicity CNN received with Lemon becoming the news, instead of simply reporting it, hasn’t done anything to help attract viewers. Final February totals are expected to be released on Tuesday.
