Two days after the network aired its town hall special featuring former President Donald Trump — an event that was widely criticized — the network found itself in fourth place, even finishing behind the pro-Trump outlet Newsmax, The Daily Beast reported.
Nielsen shows that CNN averaged just 335,000 total viewers and 87,000 in the key 25-54 advertising demographic during the 8-11 p.m. time slot this Friday. As The Beast points out, Fridays usually draw less viewers compared to the rest of the week.
During the same slot, Newsmax drew 357,000 viewers and 45,000 in the demo.
Reports say Newsmax has seen an influx of viewers since Fox News’ decision to fire host Tucker Carlson last month.
Fox’s viewership has sunk since Carlson’s firing, but it still came out ahead with viewers on Friday night. “CNN is coming off of one of its worst-rated quarters in recent history, though it did see year-over-year gains last month. At the same time, though, viewers have expressed their anger over the town hall fiasco lately and even vowed to boycott the channel,” The Beast’s report stated.
