Monday, April 25, 2022
Only 3% of its subscribers actually watched CNN+
The death of CNN+ comes not because it had 150,000 subscribers.
The death came because only 4,000 of them watched it on a daily basis, according to an obituary by CNBC, “What doomed CNN+? How rival strategies and executive intrigue fueled the streaming service’s rapid demise.”
It is a monstrously long piece of 3,000 words because if there is anything the media likes better than talking about itself, it is talking about its rivals.
Paragraph 47 said, “In the first two weeks after CNN+ launched, 150,000 subscribers paid for CNN+. Yet, as CNBC reported, fewer than 10,000 watched on a daily basis. That number was actually closer to 4,000, a source has since told CNBC.”
So 150,000 people plunked down $5.99 to view it and only 4,000 (less than 3%) actually liked it enough to watch it again.
The product was not there. CNN+ was unwatchable. People paid $5.99 and quickly decided they had flushed $5.99 down the toilet.
Paragraphs 48-50 said, “WarnerMedia executives were actually excited about the start. They viewed the daily active user, or DAU, statistic as pointless. The key metric for all digital services has always been number of subscribers. But Discovery executives felt the 150,000 subscribers wasn’t nearly enough of a foundation to reach 2 million within a year. They knew there wasn’t a hit show coming to CNN+. They saw subscriber numbers declining day after day after an initial pop. And they viewed the daily active user number as significant.
“But, they also weren’t going to make a decision about CNN+ when its new leader, Chris Licht, hadn’t even started. So Discovery asked Licht to start work early, behind the scenes, so he could make a determination about what to do with the service.
“At 8 a.m. ET on April 11 — the first day Warner Bros. Discovery began trading as a combined company — Licht and Perrette told Morse and his team that CNN+’s marketing budget was immediately going to zero. It was Licht’s first meeting at CNN.”
4,000 people bothered to watch each day.
Who knew Chris Wallace had so many fans?
And none of them are at Fox, where he worked for 18 years.
BPR reported, “The astounding collapse of CNN’s heavily hyped new streaming service CNN+ which is folding its tent after only one month due to a complete lack of interest had many rejoicing over the epic failure of the self-proclaimed “most trusted name in news” and its ill-fated entry into the digital world.
“Fox News hosts, in particular, basked in the news, reveling in the schadenfreude of CNN+ detonating while barely off the launching pad, an implosion made all the more delightful because of the fate of longtime anchor Chris Wallace who jumped ship for the competitor’s new venture.
“Tucker Carlson was among those on Fox who skewered Wallace during a segment with Fox Business reporter Charles Gasparino who broke the news last month that CNN+ was dead on arrival, the chyron at the bottom of the screen read, ‘Nobody signed up to watch Mike Wallace’s son,’ referring to Wallace’s father, legendary 60 Minutes reporter Mike Wallace.”
Chris Wallace trashed Fox.
Payback time.
What’s happening at CNN?
The grownups have arrived. The Trump-bashing orgies are over, The time has come to get back to news.
CNBC reported, “Several past and present CNN staffers told CNBC they believe the CNN+ debacle may speak to a new era of CNN.
“While many WarnerMedia employees have complained about working under the ownership of a phone company that didn’t understand entertainment, AT&T largely left CNN and Zucker alone. Zucker wielded a lot of power at WarnerMedia and had full backing for his vision at CNN. Axios reported WarnerMedia planned to spend $1 billion on CNN+ in the next four years.
“Zaslav’s swift ax to CNN+, in combination with Warner Bros. Discovery board member John Malone’s comments to CNBC about returning CNN to hard news, signal a more active corporate hand over the organization’s future.”
Zucker took CNN from third place to third place, while squandering all its credibility on the Russian Collusion hoax which was an effort to cover Obama’s ass for spying on Trump while at the same time starting a Fake Investigation by Mueller and his goons. Zucker’s reign was as pointless as the two impeachments he and CNN encouraged.
Chortle. Enjoy the misery and the agony that Wallace must be going through because he too pushed that Russian Collusion crap. The buzzards are coming home to roost.
Posted by Don Surber at 4/25/2022 07:00:00 PM
