Tucker Carlson on Friday night mocked CNN executives for their upbeat subscriber targets for the streaming service CNN+, saying their numbers were “even less plausible” than the numbers of those who voted for Joe Biden.
Carlson, whose Fox News channel has cheered on his rival’s struggles, reveled in CNN+’s demise.
The streaming service began March 29 and ended Thursday — less than a month after it launched.
Internal estimates point to two other “buckets” of potential viewers: 24 million “news and nonfiction SVOD (subscription video-on-demand) fans” and 36 million “global news consumers.”
Carlson mockingly read the numbers aloud.
“So think about those numbers for a moment,” he said.
“CNN convinced itself that it has 29 million superfans.
“That’s even less plausible than 81 million votes in a presidential election.”
Tucker Carlson ridiculed CNN+’s viewership goals for not being credible on Friday night
Biden won 81 million votes in November 2020 – the largest number in US election history. Donald Trump won 74 million – which also surpassed the previous record of 69.4 million set by Barack Obama in 2008.
Carlson continued, “And it turned out to be totally disconnected from reality.
“In the end, CNN+ had about 10,000 viewers. Why? Because people don’t really want to pay to see that crap, be called a fanatic, or learn about trans seniors.
“It has nothing to do with her life. They know very well that they will not improve them.’
CNN invested $300 million in the company, but the new executives who took over after parent company Warner Media merged with Discovery took a dim view of their efforts.
Carlson discussed an Axios report Friday that said executives believe they could reach 29 million “CNN superfans” who would be willing to pay the $5.99 monthly fee for the service.
The Fox News host poked fun at the optimistic goals of the streaming service, which existed just weeks before it was shut down
The new streaming service was heavily promoted but only had 150,000 subscribers
Stars from CNN+, including Kasie Hunt (third from left), Chris Wallace (next to Hunt) and Anderson Cooper (third from right), are on hand to celebrate the streaming service’s launch on March 28
Carlson then praised controversial podcast host Joe Rogan, saying his success – he’s the most-listened-to talk show host on Spotify – was a testament to what people wanted.
Carlson said Rogan is popular “because he’s interesting and curious, and he realizes the world is changing around him and he wants to know what the heck is going on.”
He also scoffed at Spotify’s multimillion-dollar deal with the Obamas, which the former president and his wife ended last week, unhappy with the restrictions Spotify was putting on them.
“The company that employs Joe Rogan, the streaming service Spotify — and you may not have seen that story — had to exonerate the Obamas to whom they paid millions and millions of dollars,” Carlson said.
‘Why? Because nobody wanted to see the Obamas either.
“Because they had nothing to say. Because they’re banal. You are not interesting in any way.’
Fox News anchors enjoyed cheering on CNN+’s demise.
CNN’s new CEO, Chris Licht, who doesn’t officially take over until May 2, told employees on April 21 that the experiment was over — despite producers luring in talent, including former Fox News host Chris Wallace , MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt, actress Eva Longoria and chef Alison Roman.
David Zaslav, the President and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, took the helm of the newly merged media company on April 8.
The service attracted 150,000 subscribers and was on track to meet its first-year subscription goals.
CNN+ could not show the same news programs as CNN due to existing contracts with cable TV providers. But they had encouraged their stars like Anderson Cooper to branch out into a parenting show and had given Don Lemon a chat show.
But CNN’s new parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery — officially formed through a merger on April 8 — was unfazed by the numbers.
At any given time, fewer than 10,000 people watched the service, two people familiar with the numbers told The New York Times.
Meghan McCain called CNN+ a “predictable disaster” in her column.
“Why would anyone at CNN think the American public would pay extra for content from a brand that’s already struggling to attract viewers?” she wrote.
“Nielsen, the service that tracks TV ratings, found that CNN’s total viewership in February 2022 fell nearly 70% from a year earlier.”
Insiders estimate the network spent $300 million to launch and between $100 million and $200 million on advertising. CNN had planned to spend more than $1 billion on CNN+ over four years, two people familiar with the matter told The New York Times.
David Zaslav, who has been at the helm of the newly merged massive media giant since earlier this month, was expected to bring changes.
But a senior worker told the Washington Post, “We expected them to cut off a few fingers, not the whole arm.”