CNN+ Ending Due to Embarrassingly Low Viewership; Management Is Humiliated

Three weeks after a well-publicized launch, CNN+, the streaming version of CNN, is going down in flames.

CNN pumped over $500 million into the venture, but failed spectacularly at attracting viewers.

CNN+ executives had publicly stated that their goal was to attract 2 million subscribers in the first year and 15 million to 18 million over four years. During it’s one month of existence, the streaming news platform attracted approximately 10,000 daily viewers. Ouch.

Chris Licht, the head of CNN (his new position actually starts on May 2) told employees that “this was an incredibly successful launch.” He added, “It’s not your fault that you had the rug pulled out from underneath you.” He stated that the failed project was no longer compatible with Warner Bros Discovery’s future plans.

Many newly hired people at CNN+ will no longer have jobs, including Andrew Morse, the executive vice president in charge of CNN+. All CNN+ employees were told that they will continued to be paid and receive benefits for the next 90 days and are encouraged to explore job openings elsewhere.

Warner Bros. Discovery, parent company of CNN, has been looking for ways to cut costs at the news network, whose rating have been steadily dropping for years. (The Cartoon Network often has higher ratings than CNN, even during prime time).

A report made public by CNN stated that the current CEO and president of Warner Bros. Discovery global streaming and interactive entertainment, JB Perrette, was unhappy with Jeff Zucker’s leadership. “Some of this was avoidable, but prior leadership decided to just keep going” with the planned March launch of CNN+.

Former CNN president Jeff Zucker resigned under pressure last month for failing to disclose an affair with CNN’s former chief marketing officer Allison Gollust.

It is little surprise that CNN+ failed. CNN itself is failing. Why? Because the company is a shell of it’s former self, back when it was a news powerhouse, and truly a trusted name in the news business. Today, it has devolved into an absurd propaganda wing of the Democrat party. Most viewers know what the CNN talking heads are going to say before they say it. It has become predictable, partisan, and worst of all, really boring.