What now for CNN and MSNBC?
Post-election hangover.
Related highlights:
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CNN is going to have to find a new gimmick and fast.
Now that the word “former” is affixed to President Donald Trump’s title, the cable news network that went all-in opposing his presidency, going so far as to make “resistance” its sole personality trait for the past four years, is suffering a ratings collapse, according to Variety. MSNBC, which similarly committed itself to defeating America’s 45th president, also has seen sharp declines this year in viewership.
Ironically enough, Fox News, which did more than any cable network to pave the way for Trump’s presidency, is suffering the least of the three groups now that the former Queens businessman no longer occupies the White House. In fact, Fox is doing comparatively well, even despite its recent viewership woes. This makes sense. After all, Fox’s core audience is not going anywhere, especially now that Democrats have control of the White House and Congress. Meanwhile, the resistance-obsessed viewers who drove the MSNBC and CNN ratings booms? What reason do they have to stay glued to their TVs? Trump is out of office! What else is on?
Variety reports:
While January 2021 will go down in the ratings record books for CNN, the last week of the month may offer a portent of what the post-Trump era will be like for the network.
In the first week of the Biden administration, the AT&T-owned news channel saw the audiences that had been flooding into primetime recently drop precipitously on Jan. 25-29 compared with the highs of previous weeks. Meanwhile, rival Fox News Channel saw its own ratings only dip slightly after weeks of registering its own sharp declines.
Another network that has been characterized as left-leaning, MSNBC, has also seen significant declines but nowhere near as steep as what has hit CNN: Variety Intelligence Platform’s analysis of the viewership data across two key metrics—the target news demographic for people ages 25-54, and the total audience watching—shows that CNN ended the final week of January with ratings dropping roughly 44% for total audience versus the prior week across all three hours of primetime.
While it’s too early to conclude any longer-term direction for news ratings after just one week, the downturn could be interpreted as an indicator of what many industry observers had anticipated: 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.
Conservative commentator Ed Morrissey makes a good point when he notes that post-election ratings slumps are mostly typical.
“Some of this can be explained by the typical ennui following a national election," he writes. "News consumers usually take a break from the daily grind for a while between Election Day and New Year, but that break got postponed thanks to the insanity of the post-election period."
He adds, “The drop started shortly after the Capitol riot and the following anti-climax of the Electoral College count. It might rebound a bit during the Senate trial, but it might be a longer break than usual thanks to the fever pitch of the last couple of months.”
But there is obviously more to it than just this, as evidenced by the fact that Fox is doing comparatively well where its competition is suffering. And that goes back to the original point: Unlike CNN and MSNBC, Fox is in the enviable position right now of having a built-in audience that believes it will not get tough or thorough coverage of the Biden administration, or any Democratic administration for that matter, anywhere else.
CNN and MSNBC, meanwhile, well, what now? Trump was ratings gold. But now that he is out of the White House, will the anchors and journalists who spent the past four years playing as “resistance” cheerleaders oppose the Biden administration with similar gusto? Not on your life. Some of them are no longer even covering the White House. These members of the press can always flip on a dime and become White House boosters, acting as unofficial spokespeople for the Biden administration, but where is the profit in that? Subservience to power doesn’t generate the type of drama, and ratings, that benefited CNN and MSNBC so handsomely during the Trump years.
The “resistance” networks will most likely stick with what works for now: They will continue to obsess over Trump's every word, thought, and deed. But even that can’t last for long, especially now that he is out of power. If keeping after the former president doesn’t work to bring ratings back to Trump-era levels, CNN and MSNBC will simply find a new target, whether it be a Republican governor or freshman representative. But even this is unlikely to produce the type of buzz and ratings bonanza that Trump, with his decades of stardom and notoriety, generated for cable newsrooms.
The resistance networks are likely in for a nasty post-Trump hangover, a ratings headache that will last for nearly as long, if not longer, than the good times.
That’s overindulgence for you.