Without major breaking news, CNN continued to struggle in the month of May 2014, falling to third place in total day viewers and primetime A25-54 demo viewers and falling to fourth place in the daytime demo. The network remained in third place in primetime viewers. The last time CNN finished fourth in the daytime demo was January, before its ratings surge covering missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
The ratings for May 2014 (Nielsen Live + Same Day data):
- Primetime (Mon-Sun): 400,000 Total Viewers / 141,000 A25-54
- Total Day (Mon-Sun): 309,000 Total Viewers / 93,000 A25-54
Compared to the same month last year, CNN is down double digits across the board: -33% in total viewers and -42% in the demo in total day and -39% and -37%, respectively, in primetime.
In primetime, “Anderson Cooper 360″ was down -42% in total viewers and -43% in the A25-54 demographic compared to May 2013. His show ranked #2 in the demo. The 9pmET and 10pmET hours lost over half their total audiences: down -52% and -55% in viewers, respectively.
It should be noted that last May, those hours featured a fixed lineup of “Piers Morgan Live” and “AC360” reruns, where as this month, there’s been a rotation of “CNN Tonight,” “CNN Special Report” and original series in those timeslots as part of the network’s primetime reshuffling.
CNN’s morning show “New Day” fell back to third place in both total and demo viewers. And on Sundays, “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” continued to see success: the first three new episodes of the season ranked #1 at 9pmET Sunday in total and demo viewers.