(ConcernedPatriot.com) – The 25-54 age group tuned in to CNN’s town hall on Wednesday featuring former President Donald Trump at a rate roughly five times higher than usual for the network at 8 pm, according to reports.
According to Nielsen Fast National, the network attracted 3.12 million total viewers and 703,000 viewers in the crucial 25-54 age group during the 8 pm hour on Wednesday.
Here’s an exchange between President Trump and the CNN host Kaitlan Collins. Perhaps this kind of exchange is why CNN had such a great boost in ratings:
CNN reporter left STUNNED after Trump takes out receipts to FACTCHECK her LIVE on CNN: “Let me pull it out” 🤣
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 11, 2023
CNN’s prime-time average recently fluctuated around 500,000 viewers, well below Fox and MSNBC. This is “five times higher than CNN’s typical performance at 8 pm,” Brian Stelter tweeted. The incident outclassed Fox and MSNBC.
In the key 25- to 54-year-old demo, the town hall averaged 703,000, about five times higher than CNN's typical performance at 8pm.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 11, 2023
Fox News got 1.410 million viewers, compared to 1.370 million for MSNBC. When Tucker Carlson was hosting, Fox News drew approximately three million viewers per night.
Nielsen undoubtedly underestimated the ratings Trump delivered to CNN.
“Early data does not reflect the town hall’s full viewership as later numbers will; both CNN.com and CNN’s apps aired the town hall live as well, numbers which will be released later in the day.”
Viewers were told that the town hall was a Republican-focused event where they could challenge Trump on policy. However, it developed into more of a discussion between Trump and the host Kaitlan Collins, giving Trump a chance to win over the audience and receive a standing ovation after the coverage of the event:
Standing ovation for Donald Trump at the CNN Town Hall
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 11, 2023
CNN staffers publicly disagreed with network chief Chris Licht on whether or not “America was served” by hosting Trump due to his unusual appearance on the network, which was underlined by the result.
According to CNN CEO Licht, who reportedly said this at Thursday’s editorial call at 9:00 am, “America was very well served by what we did last night. He allegedly asserted that covering Trump is “tricky and messy” and will “continue to be messy and tricky.”
After President Trump destroyed Kaitlin Collins, Byron Donalds took on the rest of CNN and destroyed them too. https://t.co/sqnsCQ7wQR
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) May 11, 2023
A senior media reporter for CNN, Oliver Darcy, specifically disputed Licht’s assertions, saying, “[It is] hard to see how America was served by the spectacle of lies that aired on CNN Wednesday evening.”
CNN handpicked the crowd for Trump’s townhall last night and this was their reaction to Trump at the end
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) May 11, 2023
And CNN broadcast it all. It went on forever. He continued in a newsletter sent to the entire organization, “It felt like 2016 all over again. “The nation’s eyes were transfixed on Trump’s abuse of the platform that he was given for the majority of the night.”
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