CNN’S AWFUL VIEW

25 to 54 demo-lition

The hard knocks keep coming for ratings-challenged CNN, which is on pace to finish February with its smallest monthly audience among the demographic most prized by advertisers, people aged 25 to 54, since June 2014.

Under boss Chris Licht, the network has slumped, with its newly launched show “CNN This Morning,” led by Don Lemon, set to finish February with its smallest monthly audience among viewers 25 to 54 since it launched in November.

According to CNN competitor Fox News, CNN shows “Anderson Cooper 360,” “The Lead with Jake Tapper” and Wolf Blitzer’s “Situation Room” are also on pace to notch their tiniest audiences this month in the critical demo.

John King’s “Inside Politics” is looking to bring in its least-viewed month among the category since August 2005.

CNN did not respond to request for comment.

“CNN This Morning” has been blitzed by bad publicity thanks to Lemon, who spewed sexist comments on air and has reportedly ruffled the feathers of co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins. The show is averaging a lowly 361,000 total viewers through the first 24 days of the month.

That’s down 16% from the 430,000 that CNN’s previous morning show “New Day” attracted in February last year before it was canceled because of poor ratings. In the coveted 25-to-54 demo, Lemon’s show reeled in just 73,000, down 13% from “New Day’s” audience.

Down 40%

Elsewhere, “The Situation Room” and “The Lead with Jake Tapper” are on pace to lose 40% of their key-demo audiences from February 2022, Fox said.

Anderson Cooper’s 8 p.m. nightly show is on pace to average only 137,000 prized demo viewers. That’s compared to Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” which is on pace to average 465,000 in the demo for the same time slot, Fox reported. The numbers mark a 38% drop in the demo audience for Cooper over the same month last year

Licht is getting ready to launch “CNN Primetime,” a 9 p.m. show that will feature a rotation of the network’s anchors and possibly outsiders such as CBS’s Gayle King and former NBA all-star and TNT sportscaster Charles Barkley, Variety reported.