CNN’s ‘Cuomo Prime Time’ Sees 26% Drop In Demo, 23% In Total Viewers Since Debut

Following its June 4th debut in which it drew 1.370 million total viewers and 475,000 in the key 25-54 demographic, CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time has seen its audience dwindle by a significant percentage.

According to Nielsen, the Chris Cuomo-hosted program dropped by 26 percent in the key demo and 23 percent in total viewership from its Monday premiere to Friday night. The 9 PM program pulled in 1.051 million total viewers and 352,000 in the demographic on Friday.

It should be noted that CNN aired a 10 PM tribute to beloved storyteller and CNN host Anthony Bourdain on Friday, which led all of cable news in the demo while pulling in 1.4 million total viewers, and CNN’s prime time and late-night numbers were higher than a normal Friday evening. Cuomo’s decrease, therefore, is actually worse if you compare Monday through Thursday.

On Thursday night, Cuomo Prime Time averaged 977,000 total viewers and 316,000 in the key demo. This marked a drop of 33 percent in the demographic and 29 percent in viewers overall. For the entire week, the program drew 377,000 demo viewers and a total audience of 1.137 million.

In comparison to CNN’s 9 PM programming at this point last year, Cuomo showed some slight declines. Last June, Anderson Cooper 360 averaged 1.156 million total viewers and 394,000 in the 25-54 demo. During the same week last year, CNN pulled in 1.252 million viewers overall and 440,000 in the demographic.

How did Cuomo fare against against its cable news 9 PM competition? MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show attracted 2.613 million total viewers and 519,000 in the demo. Fox News’ Hannity nabbed a demographic audience of 588,000 and 3.192 million viewers overall.

This is, of course, only a one-week snapshot, so this should all be taken with a grain of salt. But after its first few days, at least, Cuomo Prime Time has yet to prove it can greatly improve CNN’s primetime numbers.