When former President Donald Trump spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, he led off his remarks by saying “Do you miss me yet?”
From the perspective of CNN, the answer is definitely yes.
New rating data shows that without Trump as its foil, CNN’s ratings are tumbling.
Although CNN saw its Trump-era ratings remain high in the aftermath of the Capitol incursion and the final days of the Trump administration, that bubble burst after President Joe Biden took office, according to Fox News.
Prior to Biden taking office, CNN averaged 2.2 million viewers in January.
Since then, however, the network is at about 1 million viewers, a 54 percent drop.
The picture is even worse among the 25-54 age group, a major demographic segment coveted by advertisers.
From December 28 through Biden’s inauguration, CNN drew an average of 617,000 viewers in that age group.
With Biden in the White House, that’s down to 244,000 viewers, a 60 percent decline.
@CNN How are your ratings? No good I hear! Try reporting facts Not extremely biased opinions! Hope you go BUST!
— bjnwokc (@bjnwokc1) April 16, 2021
Cnn ratings are dropping like flies so maybe mentioning McConnell and Trump everyday might help…rent free..
— Leo (@Leoknowsbetter) April 7, 2021
CNN’s prime-time lineup of Anderson Cooper, Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon has not been immune to viewer turn-off.
CNN averaged 3.1 million viewers between the hours of 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. from Dec. 28 through Biden taking office.
Since then, CNN averaged 1.4 million viewers, a 55 percent drop. In the 25-54 age group, the decline hit 63 percent.
CNN’s decline was even greater than its fellow anti-Trump network, MSNBC.
MSNBC’s total day viewership dropped 34 percent while its prime time shows logged a 30 percent drop.
With Trump no longer stirring the political pot to create viewer interest, Fox News also showed declines, but those were confined to single-digits drops in viewership, it said.
The trend was noted as soon as Biden took office by Gavin Bridge who wrote in Variety more than two months ago that Trump would be missed.
“With Biden in the White House, networks that have spent the last four years railing consistently against Trump have lost the main attraction that energized their audience bases, making it difficult to hold onto the elevated viewing levels,” he wrote.
