CNN Streaming Service Releases to Dismal Ratings

Via TTN:

Can CNN rebound from its trend of dismal ratings? That remains to be seen but things are not off to a promising start. This week CNN unveiled its new streaming platform and things are already off to a bad start.

A longtime media industry executive who previously worked as a producer for CNN told Fox News Digital that former President Jeff Zucker’s damage to the network will undoubtedly reverberate for years to come.

Fox News reports:

“It’s a sorry state of affairs that when CNN should be shining for its Ukraine coverage, it instead is mired in the embarrassing launch of a suboptimal product like CNN+. Ratings are terrible despite the once-in-a-decade war news that CNN is supposedly made for. We’re now seeing the deep and permanent damage Jeff Zucker did to the once storied CNN brand when he pulled it far left and made it about himself vs Trump,” the media insider said. “Viewers don’t turn to CNN for serious news anymore.”

CNN’s highest-rated show, “AC 360,” finished behind 15 Fox News and six MSNBC offerings despite much of the final month of the quarter occurring as the network received a significant boost as Cooper reported from Ukraine.

In addition, CNN+ launched this week with little fanfare and is already being nitpicked for relying on paid subscribers when the basic cable version of CNN has a hard time attracting an audience.

“CNN+ is currently set up to fail with a subscription-only revenue model,” Progress Ventures founder Nick MacShane wrote in Adweek. “Licht should shift CNN+ to an ad-supported revenue model and build upon CNN’s strengths through strong relationships with top advertisers.”

Will incoming CNN president Chris Licht manage to resuscitate this dying network or has the damage already been done? Tell us what you think in the comments below.