(Tony Sifert, Headline USA) CNN’s brand new subscription-based streaming news service — CNN+ — has stumbled out of the starters’ gate, and has the company’s new leadership looking to cut projected costs and lay off employees, according to a report in Axios.
Though CNN had planned to invest over $1 billion in CNN+ over four years, “hundreds of millions of dollars are expected to be cut from that original investment total,” Axios reported.
“The new company’s leadership team still has yet to decide the ultimate fate of CNN+,” Axios reported. “CNN’s new boss, Chris Licht, will start May 1.”
Incredibly, American consumers are unwilling to pay $6 a month for 24/7 access to professional bloviators like Brian Stelter.
Breaking: @CNNplus employees bracing for layoffs possibly as soon as May amid projections of lackluster sales of new streaming channel; CNN employees say new streaming channel could be merged into larger @discoveryplus as early as May unless subscriptions pick up 130 @FoxBusiness
— Charles Gasparino (@CGasparino) March 30, 2022
Heralded by disgraced former CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker as “an important step in expanding what news can be,” CNN+ was launched on March 29, 2022 to great corporate media fanfare.
While CNN and its advisors at McKinsey expected over 2 million subscribers in its first year, Outkick reported that “fewer than 10,000 people are using CNN+ on a daily basis” since its launch.
“Every broadcast and tech company is now trying to compete with Netflix,” Outkick’s Bobby Burack wrote. “This strategy makes sense for companies that have the library to monetize subscribers, but CNN doesn’t.”
“CNN is not Disney,” Burack continued. “Hardly anyone watches CNN on linear television for free.”
Despite its dismal beginning, a CNN spokesman told CNBC that the company was “happy with the launch and its progress after only two weeks.”
Forbes Magazine reported in February that CNN’s ratings were tanking.
“Through February 15, CNN’s average prime time audience among viewers 25-54—the key demographic valued by advertisers—was just 126,000, representing a 69% drop from the same period one year ago,” Forbes reported.
“Among total viewers, the average audience was 534,000, a decline of 68% from 2021.”
