Ratings-challenged CNN remains mired in third place behind rivals Fox News and MSNBC despite the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
The cable news channel attracted an average of 619,000 viewers on Monday — with just 134,750 in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 age demographic, according to the latest Nielsen figures.
The ratings were a fraction of the more than 2 million viewers who tuned into Fox and the 1.7 million amassed by MSNBC, the data show.
Fox also won the key demo race on Monday with 260,375 viewers, while MSNBC drew 157,750.
CNN’s primetime viewership continues to be a weak spot for the network. Its top stars — Anderson Cooper, Kaitlan Collins and Abby Phillip — manage to attract an audience less than one-fourth the size of their counterparts on Fox News — Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity, and Greg Guttfeld.
Second-place MSNBC’s primetime stars also manage to quadruple the audience at CNN, which brought in former New York Times chief Mark Thompson to run the network after the disastrous reign of Chris Licht.
Thompson took the helm on Oct. 9, two days after Hamas terrorists invaded Israel and killed more than 1,400 people.
Glenn Greenwald, the journalist and frequent critic of CNN, ridiculed the network on Wednesday.
“CNN can’t get more than 100k people under 55 to watch *in prime time* as a major war is underway in which Americans have substantial interest,” Greenwald wrote, referencing the viewership of Collins’ show, “The Source,” which only managed 100,000 people in the 25-54 demographic.
“They can’t even get 500,000 total to watch in prime-time. Just a complete and well-deserved collapse despite huge corporate promotion,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter wrote on his X social media account.
Monday’s Nielsen figures mirrored those from the week of Nov. 6. Fox News finished in first place with 1.26 million total viewers on average as well as 156,000 in the 25-54 demographic.
In primetime, Fox News averaged 1.88 million total viewers for the week — the second-highest figure in all of basic cable behind Disney-owned ESPN.
In the 25-54 demographic, Fox News averaged 230,000 viewers — a 13% increase from the previous week. The boost in viewership was most likely due to the coverage of elections in Kentucky, Ohio, Mississippi and Virginia.
MSNBC was in second place — scoring an average of more than 904,000 total viewers and 98,000 in the 25-54 demographic as well as 1.35 million total primetime viewers and 141,000 viewers in the demo.
CNN finished in third with 532,000 total viewers and 105,000 in the 25-54 demographic as well as 684,000 total viewers and 169,000 in the 25-54 demo in primetime last week — a 23% and 33% increase, respectively, from the week before.
A CNN spokesperson pointed to the network’s October ratings, which saw double digit increases year over year.
Last month, CNN saw its viewership in both the 25-54 demographic as well as general audience rise 47% and 31% respectively — outpacing the growth of Fox News and MSNBC.
CNN’s poor ratings have fueled speculation that parent company Warner Bros. Discovery could sell the network.
Last week, Jeff Zucker, the former CNN boss who was fired last year after it was learned he had a yearslong consensual relationship with his top marketing officer, said his new investment firm would consider buying the channel if it were put up for sale.
David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, has insisted that CNN is not for sale.
Under Zaslav’s watch, CNN has been engulfed in turmoil. Following the ouster of Zucker, Zaslav installed Licht, a former Stephen Colbert showrunner.
But Licht’s 14-month-long reign as CNN boss was marked by low ratings, the exit of longtime anchor Don Lemon following a series of on-air scandals and a newsroom that largely maintained its loyalty to Zucker.
Licht was fired after a damning magazine expose in The Atlantic portrayed him as a thin-skinned, aloof executive who was constantly looking over his shoulder.
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