CNN, which had briefly surged to the number one spot in prime time viewership due to Donald Trump’s town hall appearance, experienced a decline and slipped to fourth place last Friday night, trailing behind Newsmax.
According to Forbes, CNN’s average total audience amounted to 335,000 viewers, while Newsmax surpassed them with 357,000 viewers during the evening.
In the prime time viewership ratings, Fox News emerged as the leader with 1.44 million viewers, while MSNBC secured the second position with a total of 1.084 million viewers. Forbes provided a more comprehensive analysis, offering detailed insights:
Among viewers 25-54, the demographic group most valued by advertisers, CNN climbed to third place, with an average audience of 87,000 viewers. Fox News was first in the key demo with 109,000 viewers, followed by MSNBC (98,000 viewers). Newsmax was fourth with 45,000 viewers.
Each of CNN’s prime time hours trailed the competition on Newsmax Friday, with Anderson Cooper 360 delivering a total audience of 447,000 viewers at 8 p.m. ET, taking fourth place behind Fox News Channel’s Fox News Tonight (1.302 million viewers), MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes (1.076 million viewers), and Newsmax’s Eric Bolling (467,000 viewers). At 9 p.m. ET, FNC’s Hannity was first with 1.606 million viewers, followed by MSNBC’s Alex Wagner Tonight (1.207 million viewers), Newsmax’s Chris Plante (325,000 viewers) and CNN’s The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper (293,000 viewers).
Only two days prior to the significant decline, CNN was enjoying a notable surge in viewership following the hosting of Trump’s town hall on their network.
According to Breitbart News, Trump’s assertive and confrontational performance resulted in ratings that were approximately five times higher than the network’s usual viewership during the 8 p.m. time slot among the 25-54 age group.
During the 8 p.m. hour, CNN accumulated a total of 3.12 million viewers, with 703,000 viewers falling within the crucial 25-54 age demographic.
The former president promptly acknowledged the boost he provided to CNN.
“People are criticizing CNN for giving me a Forum to tell the TRUTH. 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,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “It was by far the biggest Show of the night, the week, and the month!”
Trump has since scolded the network for not doing more to applaud his appearance, telling The Messenger he was “amazed to see” the network was “traumatized” by the event.
According to a report from Breitbart News, Trump engaged in an extensive interview with the recently established news organization, which was published on Monday. The conversation touched upon various topics, including Trump’s triumph at the CNN town hall.
When questioned about his takeaways from the event, Trump conveyed to The Messenger that he was taken aback by the degree of animosity he encountered. He had expected the network to make efforts to regain viewership rather than exhibiting hostility.
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