CNN fell to fourth place in primetime on Friday, just two days after achieving a rare ratings victory by hosting a town hall with former President Donald Trump.
Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET, Trump aided the struggling network dominate its competition from Fox News, MSNBC, and Newsmax.
Mediaite reported a total of 3.3 million viewers for the New Hampshire town hall where the former president sparred with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
Fox News and MSNBC each attracted 1.3 million viewers, while Eric Bolling of Newsmax attracted 394,000 viewers.
CNN immediately paid a price, as many on the left were displeased that the network gave Trump a platform.
Conservatives did not reward Collins or her network by returning to watch the program without the former president.
Two days following the town hall, CNN fell to fourth place at 8 p.m. ET.
According to Mediaite, “Anderson Cooper 360” drew a total of 447,000 viewers for the evening, which was less than Newsmax’s 467,000 viewers.
Monday’s tweet from the young conservative network celebrated its victory.
BREAKING: NEWSMAX smashes CNN in prime time ratings! Read more: https://t.co/XKw2LQ3gy1 pic.twitter.com/fHrBDytNa3
— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) May 16, 2023
Fox News dominated the evening after “Fox News Tonight” attracted 1.3 million viewers.
Chris Hayes of MSNBC ranked second with 1.1 million viewers.
The Fox News victory must be contextualized.
Tucker Carlson’s position, which he held for more than six years, regularly attracted 3 million viewers before he was fired on April 24 without warning or explanation.
More on this story via The Western Journal:
While 1.3 million was good enough to put the network over the top for the hour on Friday, the successor to “Tucker Carlson Tonight” drew a fraction of the audience 8 p.m. presumably would have just weeks before. CONTINUE READING…