CNN once rode Donald Trump’s first presidency to relevance. Now, the numbers tell a far different story.
A new analysis from Fox News Digital shows the network has shed more than 40 percent of its total day and primetime audience between 2017 and 2025, a sharp reversal from the ratings bump it enjoyed during Trump’s first term.
When Trump launched his 2016 campaign, CNN averaged 711,000 primetime viewers in 2015 and 489,000 across the total day. By 2017, as Trump settled into the White House and cable news went wall-to-wall on Russia investigations and impeachment talk, CNN’s primetime audience climbed to 1 million and total day viewership hit 775,000.
Fast forward to 2025, the first year of Trump’s second term, and the audience has eroded. Primetime now averages 573,000 viewers, while total day has fallen to 432,000.
The drop comes despite the network’s heavy focus on Trump coverage. During his first term, CNN’s sharply critical posture toward the president kept it in the national conversation. Though it trailed Fox News and MSNBC in overall rankings, the constant political drama delivered steady spikes and made the network a go-to for anti-Trump viewers.
That dynamic appears to have faded.
The channel has cycled through three presidents in a decade. Under Jeff Zucker, CNN leaned into combative, personality-driven programming. Chris Licht attempted a course correction toward more traditional news. Now, under Mark Thompson, critics say the network lacks a clear identity.
Gone are headline-grabbing hosts such as Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon. In recent years, one of the network’s most recognizable on-air personalities has been conservative commentator Scott Jennings, who frequently appears as a counterpoint on panel discussions.
The broader cable news environment has changed as well. Cord-cutting has chipped away at overall cable subscriptions. But while the industry has faced headwinds, Fox News has managed to grow. According to the same data, Fox increased its primetime audience by 10 percent and total day viewership by 13 percent between 2017 and 2025. Its share of the cable news audience rose from 47 percent to 63 percent over that span.
In other words, viewers are still watching cable news. They are just not choosing CNN at the same rate.
Major national stories since 2017 have not delivered the same ratings surges that once buoyed the network. During Trump’s first term, coverage of the Russia investigation and impeachment proceedings often drew casual viewers. Analysts say no comparable narrative has emerged this time, despite aggressive coverage of ongoing political controversies.
Financially, the impact has been significant. In a January SEC filing, parent company Warner Bros. Discovery projected CNN would generate about $600 million in profit, down from roughly $1 billion in 2016.
Corporate restructuring has only added to uncertainty about the network’s future. Warner Bros. Discovery recently agreed to sell its studios and streaming assets to Netflix in an $83 billion deal. Netflix declined to acquire the company’s cable properties, leading to CNN being spun off into a separate entity called Discovery Global.
On Wall Street, cable-only companies are often viewed as declining assets with limited growth potential. That perception has raised questions about whether CNN can remain competitive without a broader streaming or entertainment portfolio to offset shrinking linear audiences.
Industry observers have floated the possibility of a sale to a larger media conglomerate, including companies that have expressed interest in other Warner Bros. Discovery assets.
For now, CNN faces a difficult reality: lower ratings, slimmer profits and an unclear path forward in a cable landscape that is increasingly defined by consolidation and shifting viewer loyalties.
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