The liberal news network’s average primetime viewership plunged to just 444,000 viewers, according to TV Newser. How bad is that? Well, Fox News pulled in just under two million primetime viewers during that same week. And even more liberal MSNBC more than doubled CNN’s ratings, with 943,000 average primetime viewers.
They are in the “crease.” Far too lefty for normal people, but not comparable to the rabid, spittle-lipped Leftism of CNBC. So they don’t get the vast majority of normal people because of their crap-eating Leftism. But they are also not quite foam-flecked enough in their Leftism to attract most of the hardcore Lefty dead-enders.
They need to decide who their target audience actually IS. And I don’t think they can effectively turn to more “straight” news. While Fox is actually by no means conservative, they at least will tolerate some conservative talent. But hey, at night a candle’s brighter than the sun!
So CNN can’t/won’t compete with Fox. And besides, CNN talent shies like a rearing stallion at anything that is not ultra-Leftist.
But CNN also can’t compete with the totally unhinged Leftism of CNBC. Not and keep a shred of credibility, that is. And in any case, CNBC has a corner on that end of the market. Yes, CNN has many wacky Leftists on staff (they had Don Lemon until very recently), but they really can’t let their Lefty freak flag fly as an organization. The management has their eyes on the profit ball, after all.
There just is little market for a lukewarm Leftism, which is what CNN is selling.
Buh-bye!