When Trump disappeared, the audience rating also disappeared… CNN prime time 45% crash

Since the retirement of former President Donald Trump, the mainstream media landscape in the United States has also changed. Broadcasters’ ratings and news site traffic plummeted compared to immediately after the presidential election. This is the effect that Trump, who has always provided media with controversy over a major political event, has disappeared behind the scenes.

What’s interesting is that the crash of the broadcast, which criticized Trump strongly and attracted viewers, was relatively large. It is a paradox of the American media in the era of’Post Trump’.

The Washington Post (WP) on the 22nd (local time) said, “Two months after entering the post-Trump era, the media are losing the viewers and readers they gained during Trump’s chaotic tenure.”

According to this, the difference in viewership ratings between January, the end of the term of former President Trump and February, when the Joe Biden administration was established, was striking.

According to audience rating research institutes Nielsen and ComScore, the media with the biggest drop in ratings was CNN, which led the criticism of former President Trump. Based on prime time, the viewership rate has plummeted by 45% in the last 5 weeks. The audience rating of MSNBC, the leading US cable broadcaster, also fell by 26% during the same period.

The conservative Fox News also saw a 6% drop in viewership. However, compared to CNN, etc., it has regained its top position in cable TV ratings while making a comparative advantage. Before the last US presidential election, Fox News had ranked first in the number of viewers on cable channels for five years in a row, and then lost the lead to CNN after the presidential election.

The same goes for newspaper companies. WP and New York Times (NYT) also saw a 26% and 17% decrease in online traffic in February compared to January.

Regarding this, WP said, “The news media enjoyed considerable profits in the Trump administration.” In 2014, a year before Trump’s election, the number of primetime viewers of the three major cable broadcasters (CNN, Fox, MSNBC) was only 2.8 million. But in 2019, the third year of Trump’s inauguration, it increased to 5.3 million.”

The’Trump Blank’ effect was predicted early.

CNN President Jeff Zucker said in an interview with Vanity Fair in 2019, “The moment you move away from the Trump story and report other issues, the viewers will disappear.” Former President Trump also professed in 2017 that “without me, all forms of media such as newspapers and TV will collapse.”

Major media are devising alternatives. WP Provisional Editor-in-Chief Cameron Bar said, “We will cover more of it with journalism. We will be covering the White House as aggressively as before.” It means to find a way out by strengthening authentic journalism.

In this regard, Andrew Tindall, a local media analyst, said, “In the past government, if Trump’s travels were given a tabloid-style title, the number of viewers increased, but the Biden administration would not.” It’s time to choose.”

Meanwhile, it is reported that former President Trump, who has been distracted from the mainstream media’s interest and blocked his Twitter account, has set out to develop his own social media platform, drawing attention. On the 21st, former President Trump’s senior advisor Jason Miller said, “I can’t tell you the details, but the former President Trump has contacted a number of companies and is holding a meeting to establish a platform.” I will come back to my social media.”

Trump is also using podcasts to resume politics. On the 22nd, she appeared in a podcast hosted by Fox News critic Lisa Booth and said, “I will decide whether or not to run for re-election soon.” Senator Ted Cruz and others were named as representatives of the’future of the Republican Party’, but they did not mention former Vice President Mike Pence or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Reporter Kim Hong-beom [email protected]