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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNew CNN Boss Seeks to Create a Less Divisive News Network
(Bloomberg) -- Throughout much of his career in TV, Chris Licht has obsessed over ratings, often scrutinizing viewership data on a minute-by-minute basis to diagnose when viewers lost interest. Once, he skipped a close friends wedding because it was scheduled during Sweeps Week, the period when audience levels take on greater importance. Another time, while recovering in the hospital from a brain aneurysm, he found himself unable to resist checking the numbers on the morning show he was producing.
Now, as the new leader of CNN, Licht is exploring ways for the cable news network to depend less on TV ratings to make money. One idea would be for CNN to create new show segments that advertisers can sponsorsimilar to how brands have attached their names to a fast-paced montage of headlines called the Eye Opener on CBS This Morning, where Licht was previously the executive producer. Licht also wants to invest in CNNs international channels, particularly CNN en Espanol, and is considering a premium section of CNNs website that would only be available to paying subscribers.
The business strategy, which was described by people familiar with Lichts thinking, could bolster CNN at a time when viewership has fallen. While Fox News and MSNBC have declined, CNN has dropped further. This season, CNN is averaging 178,000 viewers in the key 25 to 54 demographic, down 63% from a year ago. CNNs net advertising revenue fell 2% last year due to lower ratings, according to S&P Global Market Intelligences Kagan.
The search for new revenue is part of the next chapter at CNN under Licht, where the focus, at least for now, is more on refreshing the networks reputation than on jumpstarting its ratings. (Through a CNN spokesperson, Licht declined to be interviewed). During nine years under Lichts predecessor, Jeff Zucker, CNN didnt just cover the story, it often became the story, generating headlines when its anchors confronted former President Donald Trump and his allies who labeled the network fake news. Ratings soared. But CNN could often seem scoldy and preachy when the facts themselves can tell the story, said former CNN US president Jon Klein.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/new-cnn-boss-seeks-to-create-a-less-divisive-news-network/ar-AAYA6QX
Is he the one who told CNN not to use the term "big lie"? Hope he doesn't turn CNN into Fux Noise lite.
vlyons
(10,252 posts)Hire Rachel Maddow's twin sister. Oh !!! She doesn't have a twin sister.
maxsolomon
(33,310 posts)sorry, Chris.
Novara
(5,840 posts)You haven't noticed??
Sympthsical
(9,072 posts)I just want to highlight this.
There is an obsession over whatever is going on on cable news any given minute of the day.
I keep trying to explain, "People do not watch this shit."
Just turn it off. You'll be in great company.
jalan48
(13,859 posts)500 is a list of the 500 largest companies in the US.
wryter2000
(46,037 posts)Is he going to muzzle Don Lemon?
When will these idiots realize the only thing dividing this country is the Republican party? They've created a boogie man of Democrats portrayed as communist baby-killers. They foster all forms of hate. When they stop their s**t, the country can unite. And not until then. The nicer we are to them, the bolder they get.
Just A Box Of Rain
(5,104 posts)Using terms like the "Big Lie" makes CNN more like FOX, rather than less.
They have a choice to make of being "infotainment" or Comedy Central or an "opinion" channell vs being a serious news source.
They have not been doing well if the latter is their goal.
I hope Chris Licht cleans up their act.
Good news, hard news, serious has a much more sanitising effect than does name-calling, heavy-signs, and eye-rolling.
Be less like FOX.