CNN has become a joke in the media sphere. But this is just getting outright sad.
And now Jake Tapper is completely embarrassed after shocking documents leaked.
Book Tour Fails to Lift Viewership
Jake Tapper’s new book, Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, launched in May with widespread promotion, including appearances on podcasts, talk shows, and cable news.
The book, which alleges the Biden White House concealed concerns about the former president’s fitness for office, fueled national conversation.
Despite relentless promotion across CNN, The Lead with Jake Tapper saw no viewership surge.
From April 28 to May 25, the show averaged 525,000 total viewers, a 25% drop from the same period last year, marking Tapper’s lowest-rated month since August 2015, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Losing Ground to Cable News Competitors
Tapper’s program struggled to compete in the cable news landscape. During the same April 28 to May 25 period, Fox News’ The Five and Special Report with Bret Baier averaged 3.3 million viewers, significantly outperforming Tapper.
MSNBC also surpassed CNN, averaging just over one million viewers in the timeslot.
As a result, “The Lead with Jake Tapper” captured only 11% of the cable news audience share, while MSNBC secured 21% and Fox News dominated with 68%.
In the advertiser-preferred 25-54 age demographic, Tapper’s show averaged 95,000 viewers, down 15% from last year, contributing to CNN’s second-worst month ever in this demographic for both total day and primetime.
Generating Headlines Amid Ratings Slump
Despite the viewership decline, Tapper’s book tour generated significant buzz. He admitted to not reporting aggressively enough on Biden’s age issues and suggested that the cover-up of the former president’s mental decline “may be a worse scandal than Watergate.”
CNN defended Tapper’s broader reach, with a spokesperson stating, “The award-winning program The Lead with Jake Tapper reaches broad global audiences across CNN, CNN International and Max’s streaming platform. No single metric can capture the true reach and impact of a program driving the national conversation.”
While Tapper’s commentary kept him in the spotlight, it did not translate to higher ratings, highlighting challenges for CNN in a competitive media environment.
Tapper’s high-profile book tour and provocative claims kept him at the forefront of public discourse, but the lack of viewership growth highlights ongoing challenges for CNN in capturing cable news audiences.
