Don Lemon’s CNN This Morning ratings in steady decline since November debut
New morning broadcast programme replaced the network’s former ‘New Day’ show
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.CNN This Morning’s viewership ratings have continually declined since the show launched three months ago.
The new morning programme, featuring journalists Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins, kicked off on 1 November.
It premiered just one day after New Day, the show it was intended to replace, concluded on 31 October.
The show already got off to a rocky start, but according to viewing stats from Nielsen, last week CNN This Morning earned its lowest ratings since the show began, averaging 331,000 viewers.
Meanwhile, its competitors Fox & Friends and MSNBC’s Morning Joe drew nearly 1 million and 760,000 viewers apiece across the same time period.
When it first began, CNN This Morning averaged a total of 387,000 viewers. This was six per cent lower on a year-to-date perspective than the series premieres of New Day, which was led by Chris Cuomo and Alisyn Camerota.
CNN’s new CEO Licht said at the time: “I will not allow these changes to affect our position as the world’s leading news source, and we will continue to invest in growth areas.”
Despite Licht’s original decision to reboot the morning programme with handpicked hosts Lemon, Harlow and Collins, the new team have failed to grow the morning show’s viewership.
Even the anchors “seem to be growing frustrated” over the new direction, an insider claimed to The Wrap.
“The show can’t decide strategically what exactly it is, so it’s trying to be everything which can create whiplash for a viewer when segments seem off-brand in tonality,” they said.
“The audience for morning news on network TV is different than the cable news audience and since we’re not gaining new viewers we definitely need to retain our legacy ones.”
The Independent has contacted CNN for comment.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments