Since launching her show “OutFront” on CNN last October, Erin Burnett has struggled to gain traction. Burnett peaked in her second month drawing 510K Total Viewers and 140K A25-54 viewers in November 2011. But the numbers have slid every month since to 409K / 113K in April. As we, and everyone else has noted, CNN had its lowest-rated month in 10 years in April. And May’s not looking so hot for “OurFront,” with the show averaging 309K / 78K for the first week of the month.
But we wanted to see how Burnett’s CNN show, which airs in early primetime at 7pmET, compared to one of her CNBC shows. In her final full month, April 2011, co-anchoring CNBC’s 9amET show “Squawk on the Street,” Burnett drew 271K Total Viewers and 62K A25-54 viewers. For another look, here are the 7-month averages:
- Oct. – April, 2011: CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” – 283,000 / 66,000
- Oct. – April, 2012: CNN’s “OutFront” – 452,000 / 131,000
So CNN Erin is topping CNBC Erin, even doubling the demo. But take into consideration that CNN is available in more homes, 7pm (54%) has about double the HUT (homes using television) levels as 9am (29%), that CNN is a general interest news network and that CNBC’s ratings don’t include out-of-home viewers, and you get a sense of where things stand. And here’s one more measurement: in his last month occupying CNN’s 7pmET timeslot, exactly two years before Burnett went “OutFront,” Lou Dobbs averaged 631,000 Total Viewers and 163,000 A25-54 viewers.