Showing just how far CNN has fallen as they continue to struggle with symptoms of Trump withdrawal, Reliable Sources and host Brian Stelter suffered their worst rating of the year on Sunday as Nielsen Media Research showed a scant 936,000 total viewers subjected themselves to his hour of hate against Fox News and conservative media.
Worse yet, CNN’s ratings overall plummeted to their worst week of 2021. The Washington Post’s Paul Farhi dug into the Nielsen ratings on Monday and found CNN had hemorrhaged “45 percent of its prime-time audience in the past five weeks” with MSNBC down “26 percent in the same period” and the Fox News Channel only off by six percent.
The Wrap’s J. Clara Chan had more on CNN’s putrid performance (click “expand”):
For the week of March 15, CNN had just over 1.1 million average viewers during primetime and 269,000 in the key demo; for total day, the cable news network had 755,000 total viewers and 180,000 in the key demo. Compared to the same week last year, CNN dropped about 64% in the key demo during primetime and about 47% in total primetime viewers. For total day, the network dropped about 50% in total day viewers and 65% in the key demo compared to last year.
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The week of the insurrection, CNN averaged 2.130 million total viewers, MSNBC averaged 1.249 million and Fox News averaged 1.164 million in total-day viewership. The week of Biden’s inauguration, CNN averaged 1.144 million total viewers, Fox News averaged 1.114 million and MSNBC averaged 920,000.
The week of Trump’s impeachment, CNN brought in an average of 1.467 million viewers, while Fox News had an average of 1.356 million and MSNBC received an average of 1.336 million.
For Stelter, March 21 number was his lowest since September 27, 2020 when 891,000 poor souls tuned in to hear Stelter demand the co-chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates ruthlessly pile-drive President Trump into the ground with help from Trump hater and Lincoln Project helper Molly Jong-Fast and showboater Brian Karem.
Like the rest of the acts in the Jeffrey Zucker-led circus, both numbers were well off a high of 2.674 million total viewers (and 629,000 in the demo) for January 10's show, just four days after the insurrection and attack on the U.S. Capitol. But after just over two million for the following Sunday (January 10), its been a precipitous drop.
On this past Sunday, Stelter’s show was more of the same, spewing hate in his never-ending quest to send Fox News employees to the unemployment rolls. It included an opening commentary lashing out at Tucker Carlson as the latest CNN-wide boogeyman who threatens equality, harmony, peace, and whatever else CNN believes is necessary for a safe and prosperous country.
During said screed, Stelter declared: “Bottom line here, you are what you watch and it could make you sick.”
Trust us, Brian. The feeling is mutual.
