WASHINGTON, D.C. – According to reports, CNN has been taking a beating in the ratings ever since former President Donald Trump left Washington D.C., with advertisers’ key primetime audience – the coveted 25-to-54 demographic – dropping by a whopping 47 percent since January.
CNN enjoyed a short spike in ratings after Election Day, but otherwise its ratings have been spiraling downward ever since; reports indicate that the network had an average of 2.5 million viewers in primetime – 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. EST – from Nov. 4 to Jan. 20; since then their average primetime viewership has plunged to an average of 1.6 million, from Jan. 21 through March 15.
Overall primetime viewership was down 36 percent since Trump left office, but in the key demographic of adults aged 25-to-54 – the one that advertisers look for most by far – that drop was far greater at 47 percent. And in addition, CNN has seen similar ratings dips in their daytime programming as well.
In a 2018 interview with CNN’s Brian Stelter, Legendary News Anchor Ted Koppel predicted this ratings drop eventually coming to pass; love him or hate him, Koppel noted, Trump “has been wonderful for the industry” in terms of bringing in ratings, and he declared that networks such as CNN would feel the sting when he was gone.
“But that means what? If ratings are up, that means what?” replied Stelter.
“It means you can’t do without Donald Trump,” Koppel said. “You would be lost without Donald Trump.”
“Ted, you know that’s not true,” Stelter said.
“CNN’s ratings would be in the toilet without Donald Trump,” Koppel said.
“You know that’s not true; you’re playing for laughs,” Stelter said. “You’ve lived through enough presidencies to know there will be more presidents.”
While there certainly will be more presidents, it unfortunately appears that Koppel may have been completely right on the money in terms of the effect Trump had on CNN’s bottom line.
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