As we told you, CNN anchor John Berman didn’t even try to contain his excitement over 14-year-old Fiona from Vermont flipping off protesters outside her school.
A teen explains why she flipped off anti-mask protesters outside her Vermont school: “The protesters are there every single day. And they come over and they just hold up their signs, and for me, I was just fed up. … We're all just annoyed with it.” pic.twitter.com/wtjeImBqSG
— New Day (@NewDay) September 8, 2021
Unfortunately for CNN, apparently that sort of quality programming hasn’t translated into higher ratings:
NEW: CNN spent the majority of summer below 1 million viewers, marking historic lows for the network despite all the breaking news that took place from June through August. (Thread) https://t.co/CB83SrzRJM
— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) September 8, 2021
Over the course of 92 days, CNN failed to reach 1 million viewers on 53 of them, roughly 58% of the summer, according to Nielsen data. The network averaged just 603,000 in total day viewership, a staggering 42% decrease from Summer 2020. (2/)
— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) September 8, 2021
Recommended
At one point this summer, CNN suffered a *13-day stretch* without ever reaching 1 million viewers throughout the entire day from July 28 through August 9. The breaking news of Andrew Cuomo's resignation broke the network's streak of six-digit viewership on August 10. (3/)
— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) September 8, 2021
CNN's primetime lineup, which provides the network's most-watched programming, went a whopping 80 out of 92 days below 1 million viewers, a devastating 87% of the time and marking over a 50% drop from last year. (4/)
— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) September 8, 2021
"Cuomo Prime Time," CNN's most-watched show, went from averaging 1.9 mil viewers last summer to just 948,000 this summer, falling below 1 mil viewers over 2/3s of the time. By comparison, "Hannity" and "The Rachel Maddow Show" averaged 2.8 mil and 2.2 mil respectively. (5/)
— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) September 8, 2021
"Anderson Cooper 360" averaged 914,000 viewers and missed the 1 mil benchmark 51/66 days on-air, or 77% of the time. That marks a 47% cut from his 1.7 mil average last year. "Tucker Carlson Tonight" averaged 3.1 mil viewers and "All In with Chris Hayes" averaged 1.3 mil. (6/)
— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) September 8, 2021
"Don Lemon Tonight" suffered the most in primetime, averaging a crushing 751,000 viewers, a 54% drop from his 1.6 mil average last summer. Lemon reached 1 mil viewers just **three times** this entire summer in his normal timeslot following a relaunch/publicity stunt in May. (7/)
— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) September 8, 2021
CNN daytime benefited from breaking news but had weak viewership overall. "The Lead" failed to reach 1 mil viewers 88% of Summer 2020 with a 44-day dry spell before the fall of Afghanistan. Also, 40% of Jake Tapper's viewers disappeared from 1.38 mil -> 826,000 on average. (8/)
— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) September 8, 2021
"New Day" continues to be CNN's weakest link, which never reached 1 mil viewers this summer. The Brianna Keilar/John Berman duo averaged just 453,000 viewers, a nearly 30% drop from its 636,000 average last summer. (9/)
— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) September 8, 2021
CNN was plagued with controversy this summer between Chris Cuomo repeatedly being swept up in his brother's scandals and the uncomfortable on-air return of Jeffrey Toobin following his Zoom masturbation episode. (END)
— Joseph A. Wulfsohn (@JosephWulfsohn) September 8, 2021
You hate to see it.
— Jason Nordsell (@jason_nordsell) September 8, 2021
That’s a shame.
— Mark Boheman (@mboheman) September 8, 2021
A damn shame.
no trump no ratings https://t.co/g8amO1Bby8
— 😵💫 #freeAustralia (@olehag) September 8, 2021
They need Donald Trump now more than ever.
I wonder what the numbers would be if airports stopped broadcasting them nonstop.
— Catherine Allard Ginther (@TheEyesAlready) September 8, 2021
We shudder to think.
How much longer can CNN continue along this trajectory? https://t.co/0BtnILljag
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 8, 2021
Depends on how much money advertisers are willing to toss into the money pit, we suppose.
CNN pic.twitter.com/bWTcuWgGaK
— Dicey631 Louis (@dicey631) September 8, 2021
