CNN+ To Shut Down One Month After Launch

[ElChupacabra]

Which was my analysis. If they were smart they could have gone the WaPo route and put a small paywall in front of their website, and then used that revenue to grow content for behind the paywall. But no, Brian Stelter and Don Lemon were going to pull Mandalorian numbers and nobody could tell them otherwise.

Paywalls for newspapers and broadcast news are different animals, but I get your point. Paywalls have been effective for newspapers in that the bundling of print subscription and online access has worked well (NYT as an example). From some of the marketing articles I've read, paywalls of different kinds have had varied impacts and across different types of readers.

 

[jmotivator]

Paywalls for newspapers and broadcast news are different animals, but I get your point. Paywalls have been effective for newspapers in that the bundling of print subscription and online access has worked well (NYT as an example). From some of the marketing articles I've read, paywalls of different kinds have had varied impacts and across different types of readers.

Except that CNN.com is article driven just like newspaper websites.

 

[multivita-man]

The last I read the people at CNN are pissed because they learned how many millions they paid Chris Wallace.
The last two days on The Five on Fox, Greg Gutfield has been full of jabs at Chris Wallace and it has been funny as all get out.

CNN+ aired for 3 weeks and now is no more. Why ....because they couldn't muster up enough people to watch their crap. Who was the brain behind this when their ratings were in the tank in the first place? Before CNN+ HGTV, Food Network beat them in nightly ratings.

It was a bad idea from the beginning. The plus services were selling when people were locked indoors and addicted to streaming things 24/7 during the pandemic, but those days are over. With inflation so high, households are looking for items to cut out of their budgets, and anything that's auto-debited is the first thing they look for. Add-on streaming services are at the top of the list.

Netflix is also in some serious trouble as well and I'm surprised they've lasted as long as they have, frankly, but I'm not as addicted to movies as some people are I guess. But you can get movies on Amazon Prime or other sources - not a big deal anymore.

 

[ElChupacabra]

Except that CNN.com is article driven just like newspaper websites.

Yes, but their investment was on the video content side. As I mentioned in my previous post, the paywalls that have worked best are the ones where there is a print and digital bundling option, which CNN does not have. CNN will be ok in the long term as far as distribution goes, and I suspect that will just mean they will roll into the Warner Bros. Discovery platform.

 

[jmotivator]

Yes, but their investment was on the video content side. As I mentioned in my previous post, the paywalls that have worked best are the ones where there is a print and digital bundling option, which CNN does not have. CNN will be ok in the long term as far as distribution goes, and I suspect that will just mean they will roll into the Warner Bros. Discovery platform.

I don't think we are actually disagreeing. I know what they TRIED to do, which demonstrably was a bad idea. I am talking about what they should have done.

 

[ElChupacabra]

I don't think we are actually disagreeing. I know what they TRIED to do, which demonstrably was a bad idea. I am talking about what they should have done.

No, and my intention isn't to be argumentative; just adding some insight to some of the topics you've brought up. We don't disagree on the launch having been a bad idea; made worse since it was done without the broader conversation of the company with whom they were merging.

 

[Court Jester]

Chris Wallace decided to leave Fox because he finally realized that CNN offered a much better platform for butthurt liberal journalists.

 

[jmotivator]

No, and my intention isn't to be argumentative; just adding some insight to some of the topics you've brought up. We don't disagree on the launch having been a bad idea; made worse since it was done without the broader conversation of the company with whom they were merging.

Hehe, who could argue at this point that the launching of CNN+ was a bad idea?

 

[Chomsky]

I think there's enough interesting content in this Axios post to deserve its own thread. But, do we really need 3 current & active CNN+ threads?

Anyway, here's one of the items that caught me eye, and I hope Discovery follows through implementing this vision:

Discovery also wanted CNN to prioritize impartial news. Zucker positioned CNN as a "facts first" network.

Inside the chaotic collapse of CNN+

The tea leaves were there.

www.axios.com

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Oh please say it's so, Joe!

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We badly need a 'facts first' source, IMO.

But, is 'cable' the place for it? With the dominance of Fox, I have my concerns!

 

[Top Cat]

Is Chris Wallace job hunting? Their bias is sending them deeper in the tank.

——-

That didn't take long.

Following a string of reports about underwhelming subscriber numbers, Discovery has reportedly decided to shut down CNN+, CNN's ill-fated streaming service, one month after its launch.

Zerohedge

ZeroHedge - On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero

www.zerohedge.com

If that was the case Fox would have shut down years ago. Fail.

 

[Bodi]

The primary failing is assuming that millions of people would pay for content that they already couldn't give away for free.

They gave it away free? Shit.

 

[Jason Warfield]

CNN+ was charging, what.. $6 a month? The initial investment was $100 million and a goal of dumping $1 billion into the project.

The only thing I can think to sort out the thinking behind this debacle is that CNN assumed that they would convert their online readership into paid customers of their streaming service? But their online readership already didn't translate into viewers on their basic cable channel, sooo...

I love how everyone is hating on CNN for this and are silent that FOX is doing the same thing: I’ve been getting ads for a few weeks now.

And since this has happened and FOX gets better ratings can you all admit that FOX is really mainstream media?

 

[jmotivator]

They gave it away free? Shit.

CNN was on basic cable, so it was available to pretty much anyone with a cable subscription, and they could no longer attract viewers. CNN+'s big plan was to draw in subscribers with the same cast of hosts that people could already watch but didn't.

 

[jmotivator]

I love how everyone is hating on CNN for this and are silent that FOX is doing the same thing: I’ve been getting ads for a few weeks now.

And since this has happened and FOX gets better ratings can you all admit that FOX is really mainstream media?

Well, two points:

1) How much has Fox invested?

2) Their network at least has ratings.

I mean, if FOx uses the CNN+ model they will still fail because even with the highest rated cable news channel they could not recoup the kind of money that was invested in CNN+.