CNN has certainly seen better days. The legacy media network – under the leadership of new CEO Chris Licht – is still struggling to compete with Fox News, despite efforts to seemingly shake things up at the network.
Fox News reports that former primetime host Don Lemon is struggling after he was sent down to the network’s morning slot for suffering embarrassing ratings on his previous evening show.
Lemon, who was clearly demoted, is apparently in denial, insisting that he was “not demoted,” even going as far as saying that he received a “promotion” to lead CNN’s scarcely-watched morning show, “CNN This Morning.”
“I was presented with an opportunity that I can’t pass up at this network. And we have a new boss who is a morning show impresario. And he wants a morning show that will kick off the editorial direction of the network every single day, and I am honored that he asked me to do it,” Lemon said on-air in September.
CNN’s @DonLemon on being demoted from primetime to the AM: “I was not demoted” pic.twitter.com/WgatfCzPLT
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 16, 2022
However, according to the Western Journal, the shaken-up morning show’s ratings tell a “sad story” for Lemon.
“CNN This Morning” has not only taken a beating in the ratings since its launch in 2022; the unpopular morning show is now seeing its worst ratings since its launch, with Lemon at the helm.
While Fox News’s “Fox & Friends” crushes ratings – 1.3 million viewers last week – Lemon’s show is tanking, barely managing to eclipse 300,000 viewers. Looking at specific demographics, things only get worse.
In the highly-coveted 25-54 demographic, crucial for reeling in advertisers, “CNN This Morning” managed a meager 65,000 viewers, while Fox & Friends reeled in over 180,000 viewers, tripling CNN’s figure.
Overall, while CNN is failing to compete with cable titan Fox News, perhaps more embarrassing is the network’s inability to beat out MSNBC, its left-wing rival.
The Western Journal reports:
“The powerhouse Fox News managed an impressive 1.4 million viewers in the week of Jan. 16-22. CNN managed only 417,000, even beaten by ESPN, HGTV, the Hallmark Channel and its left-leaning rival, MSNBC.
There’s simply no category where CNN lands anywhere close to numbers that would impress anyone, let alone the advertisers it needs to stay afloat. And it’s been like that long enough to where it’s clear that it’s no longer a glitch or a bump in the road.
The humiliating ratings for CNN are a referendum on the network’s content direction and its radical progressive bent, which most Americans are clearly no longer interested in hearing.”
