For years, the joke about CNN has been that the only people watching the network are those stuck in airport terminals, where the channel is omnipresent.
Other than that, it’s liberal background noise, cable news’ equivalent of those YouTube jazz channels people turn on when they need some sound to break the silence. Since the Trump administration has ended and Chris Cuomo was unceremoniously shown the door, the airport-terminal joke has become even more painfully true.
Part of the problem is that CNN insiders don’t realize this. A bigger problem, however, is the extent to which they don’t realize it — something that becomes quickly apparent when you consider the projected numbers for failed streaming platform CNN+ that Axios managed to scoop.
(Of course, The Western Journal noted from the beginning how bad of an idea CNN+ was and how quickly it would collapse — mostly because we’ve documented how irrelevant the network has become. We’ll continue bringing America the truth about the establishment media as it continues to implode. You can help us by subscribing.)
On Tuesday, Axios published a March 2022 pitch from CNN+ executives about their expectations for the streaming platform. Among its hilariously wrong-headed projections: that there were 29 million CNN “superfans” who would lead the platform to $800 million in annual profit, more than the entire cable network currently makes.
“Discovery’s decision to shut down CNN+ last week was driven in part by skepticism that the subscription service would ever hit profitability within a reasonable time frame, given current spend levels and subscriber numbers,” Axios’ Sara Fischer noted.
They weren’t wrong; reports put CNN+’s active user base at around 10,000 people, a woefully low number; there are kids streaming themselves playing video games on Facebook that are drawing those kinds of audiences, and they didn’t receive the $300 million in start-up money plus the estimated $100 million to $200 million in advertising the New York Post reported CNN+ got.
That likely wasn’t the only reason CNN+ got the ax after less than a month, given the complicated merger between CNN parent WarnerMedia and Discovery — and the fact Discovery’s leaders are the ones at the helm.
Sources had previously told Axios that CNN’s plan to launch its own streaming service didn’t necessarily fit in with Discovery’s plan “to build one scaled, subscription streaming app based around HBO Max’s branding that includes a cheaper, ad-supported tier.”
Subscribe
Gain access to all our Premium contents.More than 100+ articles.
