CNN is sinking rapidly, and they might not be able to save themselves.
They made a gigantic mistake that could cost them everything.
And now, some are wondering whether this is it for CNN.
Over the past 2 years, CNN has become one of the worst-performing cable news stations in all of America.
Their ratings are getting absolutely crushed by Fox News, and even by their Left-wing competitor, MSNBC.
They thought they had a plan to fix all of their problems, but it ended up being more like corporate suicide, and now they are in big trouble.
When they decided to launch CNN+, which was a subscription-only service for additional CNN content, they thought people would be flocking to buy it.
After all, no one wants to miss captivating content like Anderson Cooper’s book club, or Chris Wallace interviewing B-list celebrities.
However, to the surprise of everyone at CNN, those exciting content offerings did not go over as well as they expected.
And now CNN+ is in very big trouble. The network is losing money, and they may have to get rid of CNN+ entirely.
According to Axios, “Investment and projections for CNN+ are expected to be cut dramatically in response to a low adoption rate, two sources tell Axios.”
“The news giant was initially planning to invest around $1 billion in the service over the next four years. Hundreds of millions of dollars are expected to be cut from that original investment total.”
“To date, around $300 million has been spent on the subscription service, which includes a sizable marketing investment.”
“CNN executives, with help from consulting firm McKinsey, originally expected to bring in around 2 million subscribers in the U.S. in the service’s first year and 15-18 million after four years.”
Charles C.W. Cooke of National Review decided to put those numbers in perspective in an article entitled “CNN is Utterly Delusional.”
Cooke writes, “The idea that CNN+ – not even real CNN, but second-string CNN+ – was going to garner 15 million subscribers at any point in history was just delusional. NFL Sunday Ticket only has 2 million subscribers. MLB.tv has 3 million. In primetime, CNN gets fewer than a million viewers. Surely, surely, the network couldn’t truly have believed that there are that many people in America who want to pay to watch Don Lemon pretend to cry.”
“Once upon a time, CNN was a trailblazing news network. Now, it sits somewhere between being an MSNBC wannabe that can’t fully commit to the part, and being a Dadaesque form of digital airport wallpaper.”
Cooke is right. CNN has no real niche in the American television space.
It isn’t the primary Left-wing network – MSNBC has that covered.
Conservatives certainly aren’t going to watch it.
It definitely isn’t the network for middle-of-the-road Americans who just want the facts.
It doesn’t have interesting entertainment shows like some network TV channels do, or HBO.
It doesn’t carry any sports.
What really is the point of CNN?
At some point, CNN’s current business model is going to collapse. And when that happens, America will be better off.