CNN’s hysterical ratings trouble continued on Sunday evening when a Fox News Channel town hall featuring presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg pulled twice the numbers of a similar event held on March 10 with the Democrat mayor of South Bend, Ind., on the channel that flaunts itself as the “Most Trusted Name in News.”
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Fox News also had an average of 1.1 million viewers during the 7 p.m. hour while CNN Newsroom and Kasie DC on MSNBC and hosted by Kasie Hunt -- combined -- fell short of that total. And according to early Nielsen Media Research, the Chris Wallace-hosted event outpaced MSNBC’s viewership of 621,000 and CNN’s total of just 447,000.
The FNC town hall also drew 172,000 viewers in the critical 25-54 age bracket as CNN had 96,000 in that coveted demographic and MSNBC got only 77,000.
Back on March 10, the CNN town hall delivered only 545,000 total viewers. CNN aired a second Buttigieg town hall that, unlike the first CNN town hall and this past Sunday on FNC, took place on April 22 and was on a weekday (which was a Monday at 11:00 p.m. Eastern). According to TVNewser, the town hall pulled in 1.179 million viewers, so roughly comparable to FNC, but again, it took place on a weekend at night.
In an article on the town hall by Brian Flood, the Fox News media reporter addressed the situation of “ratings-challenged” CNN:
It’s been a rough time for CNN in the ratings department as the liberal network struggles to maintain relevancy. CNN finished April down double digits across multiple day categories.
CNN finished the month as the No. 15 network on basic cable, behind channels such as Food Network, Hallmark Channel and History [Channel].
“Turning the calendar to May hasn’t helped,” Flood continued, “as CNN averaged only 568,000 viewers during the week of May 6-12 while Fox News attracted 1.4 million during the same time period.”
In addition, Buttigieg’s Fox News appearance also outdrew recent CNN town halls with Democratic senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Cory Booker from New Jersey and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
In a hilarious turn of events, CNN tweeted this back on April 11 in response to their pitiful ratings situation:
CNN does not host presidential town halls for ratings. We host them because substantive conversations with presidential candidates inform and empower voters to make the best possible choices for their families and communities.
And it’s the right thing to do.
Yikes.
