CNN is going back into streaming. After their humongous failure with CNN Plus, they are now going to try to stream “news” programs on HBO Max. This despite the fact no one watches their crap for free on the regular CNN channel.
CNN launched a streaming service, CNN+, in March 2022, featuring segments from the likes of former Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, NPR’s Audie Cornish and CNN news anchor Jake Tapper. But the project lasted only a couple weeks as viewers never materialized.
So Warner Bros is looking to try another platform, Bloomberg News reported, citing “people familiar with the matter.” But the move may not be as easy as it seems.
“Putting news on Max in the US could be complicated,” Bloomberg reported. “Pay-TV providers like Comcast Corp. and DirecTV typically pay for the right to offer cable channels to their subscribers and are sensitive about efforts by media companies to offer the same programming online.”
Sources told Bloomberg that the network already distributes live shows in Europe and elsewhere abroad and top executives at CNN are looking to find ways to do so within the United States.
CNN’s ratings have cratered. Last month, the network posted a massive 25% decline in primetime ratings compared to a year before. The channel brought in just 494,000 average total viewers in primetime in May according to Nielsen, the New York Post reported.
That number is shocking when you consider that CNN is available in 80 million U.S. households, according to CNN’s own factsheet. That means the network is drawing just more than 0.5% of its available audience.
That CNN’s streaming service perished so quickly is alarming as more and more Americans cut the cable cord — especially young people. The Hollywood Reporter posted this story last week with an alarming headline: “Cord-Cutting to Reduce Pay TV to Just 38 Percent of U.S. Households by 2027, PwC Forecasts.”