CNN’s bizarre obsession with Fox News isn’t winning them many viewers.
Last month, the low-rated cable network premiered its “documentary” series about media mogul Rupert Murdoch, “The Murdochs: Empire of Influence” which was initially slated to appear on the ill-fated CNN-Plus streaming service.
And let’s just say the ratings for the first two episodes were nothing to write home about.
According to Nielsen Media Research, the first two episodes, which ran on Sunday, September 25 between 9:00 pm and 11:00 pm, drew only 510,000 total viewers, or 18.5 percent fewer viewers than the 3rd quarter average CNN typically gets during that time slot.
In the key advertiser 25 to 54 demo, CNN only cobbled together 83,000 viewers for the premiere, or 17 percent fewer than the 3rd quarter average.
On the previous Sunday, CNN’s 9 to 11 time slot was able to get 834,000 viewers, meaning CNN’s viewership for the Murdoch doc was a 39 percent drop from the week before. Among the 25 to 54 demo, CNN saw a 38 percent drop in viewership from the previous Sunday’s 134,000 viewers in that demo.
Maybe CNN should have stopped to consider the reason Brian Stelter’s laughingly named show “Reliable Sources” had to be canceled for lack of an audience. Stelter’s entire schtick was anger-watching Fox News and complaining about it.
Whoever made the programming decision to move ahead with this silly Murdoch documentary should probably follow Stelter out the door.
Meanwhile, over at Fox News, the 9 to 11 slot on Sunday the 25th pulled in 950,000 overall viewers and 111,000 viewers in the 25 to 54 demo, beating the combined audiences of CNN and MSNBC.
