CNN’s King Charles Ends After Ratings Struggles, Including Worst Network Primetime Debut in a Decade
Gayle King and Charles Barkley ended the limited run of King Charles on CNN after six months of struggling to find ratings.
The show was always described as a “limited” series by the network. The New York Post reported on Monday that King Charles had been “axed,” but the network denied this description and noted that the plan was always to run the show into the Spring.
A CNN spokesperson confirmed King Charles had come to a conclusion following King and Barkley giving a final sendoff to viewers last week. The spokesperson touted ratings wins for the series, which had the worst primetime debut on the network in a decade, according to same-day Nielsen ratings.
“King Charles has come to the end of its limited run as we announced when it launched last fall and was a great addition to CNN’s lineup, with the youngest, most affluent, and most diverse P2+ audience in its cable news time period,” the network spokesperson said.
CNN noted that King Charles had a young and affluent audience, saying 35% made $125,000 or more a year and 44% were non-White viewers. That latter number outweighs competitors Fox and MSNBC with 7% and 27%, respectively.
Barkley addressed news of ratings struggles for King Charles after it debuted to approximately 500,000 viewers. By comparison, Fox News drew two million viewers in the same Wednesday primetime lineup, while MSNBC drew 1.6 million.
Ratings continued to drop with the second episode grabbing 466,000 viewers. Support in the key demo of 18-54 also fell from 139,000 to 115,000. The show also airs on the CNN Max streaming service though, which does not release viewership data.
“An article came out that our ratings weren’t great…but I want to tell my team, man, these Nielsen people are the biggest clowns in the world. Name me one person you know with a Nielsen box?” Barkley said on The Steam Room podcast.
King said on the final broadcast of King Charles that she and Barkley would work together again. She described the episode as the last of a “limited series.”
“We will see you the next time, whenever we see you,” she said.
Watch above via CNN.
