CNN Hits 21-Year Ratings Low in Second Quarter

Battered by a series of rough weeks and big losses for Anderson Cooper and Piers Morgan, the cable news network sinks with total viewers and in the coveted adults 25-to-54 demo.

10:56 AM PDT 6/26/2012 by Michael O'Connell

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After several months of bad ratings news for CNN, official quarterly numbers confirm that the cable news network has hit 21-year lows in both viewers and adults 25-to-54.

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The primetime lineup of Anderson Cooper 360 and Piers Morgan, specifically, saw big drops during the prime 8-10 p.m. hours that have averages down to 446,000 total viewers and a mere 129,000 with adults 25-54. Those numbers mark 35 and 41 percent drops from the second quarter in 2011.

Daily ratings stumbled to their lowest in more than a decade (2001), with 319,000 the average total viewers and 129,000 adults 25-54 -- 35 and 45 percent drops, respectively.

In individual primetime broadcasts, Anderson Cooper's 8 p.m. outing was down 23 percent in the demo. Piers Morgan took a steeper drop of 33 percent in adults 25-54.

Among the other cable networks, MSNBC and Fox News Channel also were down in primetime, though by significantly smaller margins. FNC held 1.79 million viewers (254,000 in the demo), while MSNBC had 689,000 total viewers and 217,000 in adults 25-54.