CNN's 2013 Primetime Ratings Lowest in 20 Years

January 2nd, 2014 3:20 PM

After his first full year running CNN, Jeff Zucker has little to be proud of.

The primetime ratings of the self-proclaimed "Most trusted name in news" reached 20-year lows in 2013.

Primetime viewers averaged 568k, 183k in the all important demographic of folks aged 25 to 54.

This was a sixteen percent decline in total viewers, and 18 percent in the demo.

Not surprisingly, most of the cable news networks saw ratings declines given 2013 being an off-election year. 

However, to put CNN's numbers in perspective, Fox News averaged 1.8 million viewers in primetime. MSNBC came in second at 640K.

As for total day viewers, Fox again came in first averaging 1.1 million viewers. CNN edged out MSNBC 413k to 394k.

Zucker and MSNBC chief Phil Griffin must be so proud of themselves.