CNN’s ratings have suffered a significant blow following its controversial town hall event featuring former US President Donald Trump.
According to The Daily Beast, the network has had its lowest-rated week since June 2015, with an average of around 429,000 daily viewers between Monday and Friday last week.
The figures also showed that CNN’s audience had decreased by double digits compared to the same week in 2020, including its primary advertising demographic of 25-54 year-olds.
In contrast, CNN’s cable news rivals MSNBC and Fox News experienced far better viewership during the same period, with 976,000 and 1.4 million total viewers, respectively.
Despite this, CNN defended its ratings in a statement to The Independent, noting that it had outpaced Fox News for the month of May up through the 20th, with 39.173 million P2+ and 10.529 million P25-54 viewers, compared to Fox News’ 35.422 million P2+ and 7.950 million P25-54 viewers.
However, Fox News is also facing its own challenges with the recent firing of Tucker Carlson, which led to a 41% decrease in its key demographics year-to-year, as well as a 24% decrease in total viewership.
Both CNN and Fox News are currently experiencing a decline in their primetime slots, with several of their weeknight primetime shows being beaten in the ratings by the far-right media channel Newsmax.
Newsmax previously experienced a boost in viewership immediately after the 2020 presidential election when Fox News accurately called Arizona for Joe Biden before any other news outlet.
Meanwhile, MSNBC is currently the only network gaining viewers, with audience numbers increasing by 44%.
It is likely that this is due to viewers leaving CNN in the wake of its Trump town hall event.
During the town hall event, Mr. Trump continued to push the idea that the 2020 election was stolen and promised to pardon Capitol rioters who attempted to thwart the nation’s democratic transfer of power after his 2020 election loss.
Blowback to the town hall event was severe, with CNN’s star anchor Anderson Cooper making a statement on-air about the debacle, ultimately asking viewers to view the event as a warning about Mr. Trump’s political aspirations.
CNN’s Chris Wallace’s Friday night interview show also saw a decrease in viewership, with only 224,000 total viewers in its 10 pm slot.
During the same time slot, 60,000 more people were watching Newsmax.
However, CNN noted to The Independent that Wallace’s show is available on Max before it airs on CNN, calling it “inaccurate” to portray the CNN viewership as the show’s only audience numbers.
CNN’s town hall event with Mr. Trump, moderated by Kaitlan Collins, included the former president further maligning E Jean Carroll, whom he was found by a court to have s**ually assaulted and defamed, calling January 6th, 2021 a “beautiful day”.
