Ratings

Here is something I wrote last February Is ideology more important than profits. In the case of CNN it appears that way. CNN averaged only 548,000 viewers during the week of January 3, a steep 80% decline from the 2.7 million it averaged over the same period in 2021. Some of that decline can be attributed to the drama of January 6 last year. This year, CNN used the anniversary of the Capitol riot to try to replicate that success, but it didn't work. CNN much like MSNBC daily has stories about Trump but those are not drawing the audience they used to. There is very little coverage of the southern border, crime and inflation and zero coverage of Afghanistan and the origin of the Covid. It appears that they have made the decision to sacrifice viewers to maintain their news philosophy which is refreshing. It remains to be seen how long they can endure these low ratings. Here is an update. There are rumors that the long awaited changes at CNN are about to begin and similar activity is taking place at MSNBC. The loss of Trump has hurt these networks even though they still manage to get some Trump story on everyday. Among the cable networks, Fox News dominated prime time with an average total audience of 2.634 million viewers, representing an increase of 6% from the same period one year ago. MSNBC was second with 1.194 million viewers (down 46% year-over-year, and CNN (774,000 viewers, representing a decline of 54% from 2021). The big question is, will their viewers come back if Trump is elected in 2024. A bigger question is do they want Trump to be elected. Will ratings beat ideology.