CNN President Jeff Zucker had signaled to associates that he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to stay on, and would weigh his options after the election.
Photo: Mike Coppola/Getty Images for WarnerMedia
CNN is riding a ratings high in the aftermath of the election. Whether the network boss who oversaw those gains will stick around is an open question.
CNN averaged more total-day viewers than Fox News since Election Day through Dec. 8, a 35 day span, the first time it has won such a long stretch in that category in 19 years. CNN also bested the competition over that period among viewers ages 25 to 54, a demographic advertisers target on news channels. Fox News has retained the No. 1 spot in total prime-time ratings.
As CNN tries to maintain momentum, network parent WarnerMedia, a unit of AT&T Inc., T 1.04% is in talks with CNN President Jeff Zucker on whether to renew his contract, with those discussions expected to heat up in coming weeks, people close to the situation say. Mr. Zucker had signaled to associates internally that he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to stay on, and would weigh his options after the election.
The contract negotiations are happening at the same time that CNN has become a target of takeover interest in the private-equity world. Recently, Mr. Zucker was made aware of investor interest in taking the network private, according to people familiar with the matter. One scenario floated was a management buyout that would see Mr. Zucker lead the network under new ownership, some of the people said. Mr. Zucker has indicated that would-be suitors should contact AT&T.
WarnerMedia Chief Executive Jason Kilar said at a recent company town hall that CNN wasn’t for sale. People close to Mr. Kilar say that he is hopeful Mr. Zucker will stay with the company.
Cable-news viewership has declined across the board from the peaks networks reached during the week of the election. CNN scored the biggest gains in key categories during the run-up to the election and its immediate aftermath, and has retained enough of that audience to vault ahead of longtime leader Fox News in key categories.
Since the election through Dec. 8, CNN averaged about 1.7 million viewers for the total day, compared with roughly 1.56 million for Fox News. CNN was also first in prime-time among viewers 25 to 54, averaging about 818,000, but Fox News was tops in total prime-time viewers.
Like its competitors in the cable news sector, Fox News is on track to deliver its highest-rated year ever. For the full year, Fox News is pacing toward first place among cable news networks in several key ratings categories, including total day viewership, total day viewership in the key news demographic, prime-time viewership and prime-time viewership in the demographic.
Fox News, which has been the king of cable news ratings for nearly two decades, has recently faced stepped-up competition from pro- Trump networks Newsmax and One America News Network, which have won over viewers loyal to President Trump by playing up his unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud in the election.
Newsmax has seen its ratings in the key news demographic surge around the election, according to Nielsen. The network has averaged about 372,000 prime-time viewers since Election Day through Dec. 8, a more than 500% increase compared with its prime-time audience during the week before the election. Still, Newsmax is far smaller than Fox News, which averaged about 3.1 million prime-time viewers during that period.
Fox News and Wall Street Journal parent News Corp share common ownership.
MSNBC is in third place in several key ratings categories since the election. The network has had some bright spots, drawing more total viewers than its competitors on weekdays since the election was called on Nov. 7, according to a spokeswoman. MSNBC said “The Rachel Maddow Show” has drawn more viewers in its time slot than competing shows in December. NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde recently tapped network executive Rashida Jones to be the cable news channel’s next president.
CNN’s ratings victories could be temporary. The network occasionally gains ground on its competitors in the short-run as casual viewers tune into CNN during intense periods of breaking news. CNN eclipsed Fox News among prime-time viewers in the key demographic in August 2019, but Fox News won the most prime-time viewers that month and ultimately won the quarter.
Write to Benjamin Mullin at [email protected]
Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Appeared in the December 14, 2020, print edition as ‘CNN Soars With Boss’s Fate Uncertain.’
