Can CNN, MSNBC find ways to raise passion in post-Trump era? Network ratings drop during Joe Biden's 1st week
The US liberal and left-leaning media outlets had little sleep till the time Donald Trump served as the president of the country. They tirelessly monitored the former president, a maverick individual who endlessly provided them with fodder. But once the Republican has exited the Oval Office, those networks’ booming businesses have seen a slump while their right-wing counterparts are less worried since they now have a lot to capitalize on.
According to a report in Variety published on February 1, CNN saw its audiences falling significantly between January 25 and 29, the first week of President Joe Biden in office, compared to what it was in the previous weeks.
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MSNBC also witnessed a decline (18 to 19 percent) in its audiences although not as steep as that of CNN. The report said: “Variety Intelligence Platform’s analysis of the viewership data across two key metrics—the target news demographic for people ages 25 to 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.”
Fox News, on the other hand, saw its ratings going down only slightly after going through weeks that saw sharp falls.
Among the viewers aged between 25 to 54, the fall may have hit 'Cuomo Prime Time' the hardest at 9 pm where the audience fell by more than half. 'The Rachel Maddow Show' on MSNBC saw a lead in the hour although there was a decline of its own. The only program that didn’t see a slump was Fox’s 8 pm slot 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' which saw a little rise compared to the prior week.
Variety cited industry observers anticipated that the liberal networks would have such an experience. They said with Trump out of the office and Biden in, those networks no longer have the advantage of railing against the former commander-in-chief and “lost the main attraction that energized their audience bases” and facing difficulty to maintain the high viewing levels. Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate could be the last opportunity for the liberal and left-leaning networks to cheer but after that? The signs are unclear.
Conservative political site Hot Air cited the Variety report to say that while the fall in the liberal networks’ ratings could be explained “by the typical ennui” that follows a national election when people generally take a break from the daily grind between Election Day and the New Year. “But that break got postponed thanks to the insanity of the post-election period. 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,” a piece on Hot Air said.
CNN, MSNBC will have to find ways to raise passion in post-Trump era
It also added that the above factor doesn’t explain the entire scenario. It said the ratings of Fox have not changed much even though they saw a slight dip last year. According to Ed Morrissey, who wrote the Hot Air piece, the loss of interest looks somewhat more particularized “as though a great many people care a lot less about CNN and MSNBC analytical programming after the departure of Trump”.
He said those networks “dedicated themselves to counter-Trump programming for the last four years and profited handsomely off of it”, adding that they will have to find a new model now to inspire the same passion post-Trump presidency.
Fox, on the other hand, will not have such a challenge to meet even though it increasingly found itself at odds with Trump in the later period of his rule. The Hot Air piece said that Fox’s audience is already primed to oppose most of what the new administration will do, besides top Democratic leaders like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.
CNN and MSNBC have a disadvantage on this. Morrissey said either they cheer the Biden administration or criticize it. The first, according to the conservative piece, will make it monotonous for their audiences while the second will split themselves. It said the next four years of the Biden era might see such a “ratings desert” that networks like CNN and MSNBC will start searching for ways “to inflate the Trump bubble” and might end up with a lot more incentive to do so compared to Fox.
“Good luck with that,” said the conservative article.