CNN spent the majority of summer below 1 million viewers, even worse during primetime

Despite being a jam-packed summer of breaking news, viewers continued to flee from the so-called “most trusted name in news.”

From June 1 through August 31, the news cycle did not take a summer vacation, which included the migrant crisis at the southern border, skyrocketing crime in cities across the country, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, growing inflation concerns, the tragic Surfside condo building collapse, the battle over infrastructure spending on Capitol Hill, the shocking overturned conviction of Bill Cosby, the resignation of Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Biden administration’s chaotic military withdrawal from Afghanistan.

However, none of the major headlines were enough to salvage CNN’s dwindling viewership.

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.

CNN GOES ENTIRE WEEK WITHOUT REACHING 1 MILLION VIEWERS

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 Cuomo’s announced resignation broke the network’s streak of six-digit viewership on August 10.

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.

“Cuomo Prime Time,” CNN’s most-watched show, average a measly 948,000 viewers from June through August, falling below 1 million viewers over two-thirds of the time whenever anchor Chris Cuomo was on-air, which is a 50% decrease from the 1.9 million viewers he averaged a year ago. By comparison, Fox News’ “Hannity” averaged 2.8 million viewers and MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” averaged 2.2 million viewers this summer, neither of them ever falling below 1 million viewers.

Cuomo had a turbulent summer as he was swept up in his brother’s scandals and conveniently went on a “long-planned vacation” the same week the governor resigned.

“Anderson Cooper 360” trailed behind averaging 914,000 viewers this summer, missing the 1 million viewer benchmark 51 out of 66 days on-air, or 77% of the time. That marks a 47% cut from Anderson Cooper’s 1.7 million-averaged audience this time last year. CNN’s 8 pm ET timeslot was trounced by Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” which averaged 3.1 million viewers this summer, and was also beaten out by MSNBC’s “All In with Chris Hayes,” averaging 1.3 million viewers.

CNN anchor Don Lemon, who failed to juice up his ratings in May by rebranding his show “Don Lemon Tonight” following a widely-panned publicity stunt, had the most crippling viewership during primetime this summer, averaging a crushing 751,000 viewers during the 10 pm ET timeslot, resulting in a 54% loss from his 1.6 million viewers he had a year ago.

With the exception of his town hall with President Biden that aired on an earlier timeslot, Lemon reached 1 million viewers just three times in his regular timeslot from June through August, meaning he hit 1 million viewers only 3% of the time. Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” averaged 2.2 million viewers while never falling below seven-digit viewership while MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” averaged 1.5 million viewers and fell short of the benchmark only twice this summer.

CHRIS CUOMO AND HIS PROBLEMATIC YEAR AT CNN

Meanwhile, CNN’s daytime programming largely benefiting from breaking news, press conferences and addresses from President Biden in the form of a slight bump in viewership, particularly in the final stretch of summer when the Afghanistan turmoil became a global news story, but regardless had weak viewership overall.

Take “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” for example. Despite being rewarded with the second hour of programming earlier this year, Jake Tapper, who is widely seen as CNN’s most respected anchor, failed to reach 1 million viewers 88% of the summer, though his program did significantly benefit from various breaking news events that carried him above the benchmark over half a dozen times. Before the fall of Afghanistan, “The Lead” went through a 44-day dry spell of not hitting 1 million viewers.

Additionally, Tapper lost 40% of his audience from last summer when he averaged 1.38 million viewers, settling now with an average of 826,000.

Perhaps CNN’s weakest link in the network’s entire lineup is its flagship morning program “New Day.” Hoping to revitalize the show with the addition of CNN anchor Brianna Keilar sitting alongside John Berman as part of the on-air shuffle that took place last spring, it appears such efforts failed miserably as “New Day” never reached 1 million viewers this summer. The struggling newscast averaged just 453,000 viewers, marking a nearly 30% drop from its average audience of 636,000 in the summer of 2020.

CNN has struggled since President Trump left office in January, dedicating the vast majority of its coverage since then to the Jan. 6 riot and pro-Trump Republicans despite the fact Democrats control all three branches of government.

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The liberal network itself was plagued with controversy this summer. It was revealed in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ report on Andrew Cuomo’s sexual harassment scandal that his brother, CNN’s star anchor Chris Cuomo, was involved in the drafting of a statement back in February in response to the allegations. Both liberal and conservative critics called for CNN to suspend or fire Cuomo, who attempted to whitewash his actions as a journalist in an awkward address to viewers following his brother’s resignation.

The summer also marked the uncomfortable return of CNN’s chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who had disappeared from the airwaves following his Zoom masturbation scandal last fall until he appeared out of nowhere in June and was grilled by CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota about his handsy behavior, sparking a social media meltdown.