CNN’s Primetime Ratings Reach 33-Year Low as Insiders Brace for Staff Cuts

“Thompson and his digital growth chief Alex MacCallum are mere weeks away from unveiling their plan to transform the network into a multi-platform business,” said media watcher Dylan Byers, a correspondent at Puck News and former CNN staffer.

“That plan will require implementing a new round of staff cuts across the organization. These layoffs, which will be announced in July, will certainly be far more strategic than the hundreds of exits that Chris Licht implemented in late 2022—and, uncomfortable as they may be, they represent meaningful forward momentum. But they’ll still be substantial, and painful.”

Beyers said CNN would inevitably return to the “exact same circumstances in which it finds itself today” after the debate: averaging half a million total viewers on any given night, and “struggling to assert its value in a crowded news environment.”