"CNN Fails to Stop Fall in Ratings" that's the headline atop Bill Carter's piece in The New York Times today.
The biggest loser appears to be the, uh, ex-King:
For the network’s longest-running host, Larry King, who has always been regarded at CNN as the centerpiece of prime time because he drew the biggest audiences at 9 p.m., the quarter was his worst ever.
Mr. King’s audience dropped 43 percent for the quarter and 52 percent in March.
So what is CNN planning to do about this? Astonishingly, the plan seems to be to make more use of Anderson Cooper, whom everybody in Manhattan seems to love, but not people in the rest of the country. As Carter explains:
Mr. Cooper has long been regarded as the strongest host at CNN, but his show has suffered badly as well. For the quarter, Mr. Cooper dropped 42 percent in viewers and 46 percent among the 25-to-54-year-old audience that the news channels use for their sales to advertisers.
But in the meantime, it's CNN President Jon Klein and Larry King, sailing along on the CNN Titanic. And no need to worry about those icebergs!
