Our friends over at Newsmax are having a day for the ages.
CNN’s prime time ratings plunged dramatically in the days following their town hall forum with former President Donald Trump. On Friday the network came in fourth behind Fox News, MSNBC, and Newsmax – a banner moment for the conservative outlet.
CNN enjoyed a massive ratings bump from Trump’s presence last week, earning 3.3 million viewers in the 8 pm slot on Wednesday, more than doubling the next closest network.
The numbers were even more impressive in the key 25-54 age demographic coveted by advertisers.
By Friday however, reality smacked them square in the face.
CNN’s prime time viewership just two days later sat at an average of 335,000 viewers, well behind Fox News (1.44 million), MSNBC (1.08 million), and just behind Newsmax (357,000).
Just Wow!! ? Fantastic @NEWSMAX TV prime time ratings beats @CNN! Congrats @ericbolling @ChrisPlanteShow & @gregkellyusa & thanks @greta for reporting on this! ? pic.twitter.com/8VJ7PsEyke
— Deneen Borelli (@deneenborelli) May 15, 2023
Trump Celebrated CNN’s Ratings After His Town Hall
After news of CNN’s massive ratings came out for the town hall, GOP frontrunner Donald Trump celebrated and claimed many minds “were changed.”
“People are criticizing CNN for giving me a forum to tell the TRUTH,” he wrote on his Truth Social media platform. “I believe it was a very smart thing that they did, with sky-high ratings that they haven’t seen in a very long time.
“It was by far the biggest show of the night, the week, and the month!”
CNN’s Trump Town Hall Yields Ratings 5x Higher than Typical Night https://t.co/32qwU9AuwS
— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) May 12, 2023
The Trump bump was extremely short-lived. If any minds were changed, they were looking for a different channel.
After 8 pm, CNN didn’t have a single show eclipse the 300,000 viewer mark. Every show between 8 pm and 11 pm had lower total viewership than each show over at Newsmax. Only by 11 pm did their program “CNN Tonight” finally best Newsmax’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight.”
BREAKING: NEWSMAX smashes CNN in prime time ratings! Read more: https://t.co/XKw2LQ3gy1 pic.twitter.com/fHrBDytNa3
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) May 16, 2023
Chris Wallace’s Numbers Are Nearly Imperceptible
You may have forgotten that Chris Wallace is still employed by CNN. Even further, you may have forgotten he still has a show. On the Friday following the Trump town hall, so did everybody else.
Ratings from the show “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” beg the more important question: “Who’s Even Watching Chris Wallace?”
The program saw just 263,000 total viewers, behind “Greg Kelly Reports” (278,000) and barely more than what Greg Gutfeld is drawing in the 25-54 age demographic alone an hour later (228,000).
That number is a significant drop for Wallace from the previous week (320,000) and two weeks prior (351,000). A pitiful trend.
???BREAKING: CNN’s ratings PLUMMET after the Trump Town Hall.
“On Friday night, Newsmax beat CNN in primetime.
CNN only pulled in an average of 335,000 viewers during the 8-11 pm hours, compared to Newsmax’s 357,000. At 10 pm, Chris Wallace’s interview show only drew… pic.twitter.com/tnXPNTbZdC
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) May 16, 2023
Chris Wallace must certainly be rethinking his career move to CNN. Seems as if nobody on either side of the political aisle finds him interesting.
[totalpoll id=”269493″]
His current show is a debacle. His previous effort – where he was looked at as the face of the streaming service CNN+ – suffered an even more embarrassing run, as the network announced it would be shuttered just one month after its launch.
Wallace, who reportedly was lured away from Fox News with a $9 million annual contract, put on a brave face after CNN+ crashed and burned, claiming he had no regrets and that he was “going to be fine.”
“I’m in good shape whether it’s CNN or someplace else,” he said last April.
That might be true money-wise, but his career is an utter disaster at this point. Maybe CNN should think about hiring Trump to do a once-weekly show on the network in Wallace’s slot.
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