CNN Becoming Irrelevant: Lowest Prime Time Ratings In At Least 13 Years

December 16th, 2010 8:57 AM

Is CNN becoming irrelevant?

According to TVByTheNumbers.com, the self-proclaimed most trusted name in news's prime time ratings this year are the lowest since at least 1997:

CNN’s woes worsened this year. Despite the somewhat bogus total reach-touting, the  network hit primetime ratings lows (or at least going back to 1997, which is all we could dig up data for) for total viewers and viewers 25-54. 

A look at Tuesday's prime time numbers should give you an idea of just how terribly this cable network is doing. 

Fox New's "O'Reilly Factor" now frequently gets more viewers than CNN's extended prime time lineup (not including the 11PM broadcast of "Anderson Cooper 360".)

Right in the heart of CNN's weeknight programming, "John King USA" and "Parker Spitzer" received a combined 647,000 total viewers Tuesday which was less than any single first-run program on MSNBC and less than half as much as any first-run show on Fox.

For the whole day Tuesday, CNN averaged only 379,000 viewers per hour compared to Fox's 1.3 million.

To be sure, CNN is doing very well internationally, and its website garners a lot of attention as well as ad revenue. But the cabler's broadcasting numbers are continuing to decline to the point of total irrelevancy.