This week it was reported that CNN lost 26 percent of its audience, down 237,000 viewers since April 2018, and down nearly 40 percent from its 2016 peak. To put those numbers in their proper perspective:
■ According to Wikipedia, the population of prostitutes in the U.S. (approximately one million) is larger than the population of CNN viewers.
■ Across all cable networks, CNN now ranks 15th, behind Home and Garden TV (4th), the Hallmark Channel (9th) and the Food Network (14th).
■ The 237,000 viewers CNN has shed over just the last year is more than the populations of Richmond, Virginia (227,032), Baton Rouge, Louisiana (225,374) or Des Moines, Iowa (217,521).
■ Their remaining 767,000 viewers could all comfortably fit in Jefferson County, Kentucky (current population 771,158).
■ Their current ratings are lower than those for failed TV shows such as TBS’s Wrecked (846,000), cancelled after three seasons. The bottom-rated show on broadcast TV this week, CW’s The 100, had 901,000 viewers, which was 134,000 more than CNN.
■ More people tuned in for the 2018 Little League Baseball World Series (an average of 1.02 million per game; more than 3 million for the championship) than watch CNN these days.
■ There are more real-estate agents in the United States (1.3 million) than there are CNN viewers. And many more people work at Walmart (1.5 million) than watch CNN.
■ One survey suggests there could be twice as many witches and pagans in the United States (1 to 1.5 million) than there are CNN viewers.
■ Americans are more likely to ride a bicycle to work than to watch CNN. According to a new report from the Census Bureau, 836,569 Americans over the age of 16 say they ride a bike to work.
■ More households keep chickens and other poultry birds as pets (1,020,000) than tune in to CNN’s primetime shows, according to a survey from the American Veterinary Medical Association.
