But as is often the case in cable news programming, smart and informative rarely translates to strong ratings. And that appears to be the case once again, as overnight ratings indicate that the five-hour slate of town halls was a dud in terms of overall viewers.
According to Nielsen data, CNN finished third overall to its competitors Fox News and MSNBC on average.
The network did pull off a rare feat, however: between the hours of 9 p.m. and midnight, it beat Fox News and MSNBC in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demo.
For the night, FNC delivered 2.26 million total viewers and 380,000 in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demo; MSNBC delivered 1.81 million total viewers and 285,000 in the demo and CNN pulled in 1.2 million overall — but did pull down an impressive 371,000 in the demo through the night, coming in just behind Fox in that
Over the course of the evening, however, each candidate featured on CNN drew a different set of viewers. To wit:
- Amy Klobuchar was featured at the 7 p.m. hour and received 869,00 overall and 183,000 in the demo.
- Elizabeth Warren was featured at 8:00 p.m. and received 1.180 million overall and 332,000 in the demo.
- Bernie Sanders followed at 9 p.m., and drew 1.336 million overall and 457,000 in the demo.
- Kamala Harris was featured at 10 p.m., drawing 1.440 million overall and 496,000 in the demo.
- Pete Buttigieg was featured at 11 p.m. and received 1,179 overall and .389 in the demo.
While it appears that Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders were the rating winners, it’s difficult to compare due to the apples and oranges nature of different hosts and timeslots.
CNN deserves great credit for the news-making civil service provided by these town halls. And it’s perhaps a sad commentary on the American cable news viewers that the ratings are so underwhelming. But then, it’s also worth noting that CNN spent a lot of time in on-air promotions and a persistent on-screen countdown clock.