Ratings Are In For CNN Town Hall! Here Are The Number of Viewers

Although President Trump demolished CNN during the network’s town hall, they had a significant ratings boost Wednesday night.

CNN’s town hall reeled in 3.1 million viewers.

The town hall, which aired in the 8 p.m. slot instead of Anderson Cooper’s show, shattered the network’s average number of viewers.

In comparison, Cooper’s show has an average of less than 1 million viewers.

CNN’s chaotic Trump ‘town hall’ broadcast draws 3.1 million viewers https://t.co/Ufb6uktO2J pic.twitter.com/5qFhlF2Pqg

— New York Post (@nypost) May 11, 2023

The New York Post reported:

The perennially last-place cable network reeled in 3.1 million viewers for Wednesday’s 70-minute broadcast that began at 8 p.m., CNN said Thursday.

The ratings easily eclipsed the paltry figures drawn by its regular 8 p.m. news hour hosted by Anderson Cooper, who averages less than 1 million viewers.

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CNN said the town hall marked its best rating since the final Jan. 6 hearings, which aired on July 21 of last year.

At the time, CNN logged 3.2 million total viewers, according to Nielsen.

The Kaitlan Collins-moderated town hall from St. Anselm College in New Hampshire also nabbed 703,000 viewers in the vital 25-54 demographic.

It was one of CNN’s highest rated programs in years, falling short of the town hall with President Biden on Feb. 16, 2021 — which delivered 3.7 million viewers and 912,000 in the demo.

CNN handily beat out rival networks in the time slot, with Fox News logging 1.4 million total viewers and 125,000 viewers in the coveted demo. MSNBC amassed 1.4 million viewers and 155,000 viewers in the demo.

With 3.1 million viewers, CNN’s town hall featuring Donald Trump was the network’s 2nd-most-watched town hall event since 2016.

CNN’s ratings received a desperate resuscitation courtesy of Donald Trump.

CNN's town hall with President Trump averaged 3.1 MILLION viewers – which is comparable to Tucker's old show. The CNN town hall beat MSNBC & Fox.

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.

— Tierney (@MaggiePeggy1234) May 11, 2023

The Wrap added:

Wednesday’s event was a close runner-up behind the network’s 2020 town hall with Joe Biden, which maintained its spot as the most watched single-candidate town hall with 3.47 million total viewers tuning in.

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Viewership for the 2023 live event also exceeded the last time the former president appeared on CNN for a town hall by almost a million viewers, as the April 12, 2016 town hall averaged 2.2 million total viewers, which indicated a 125% increase in viewership as compared to time period norms at the time.

During the town hall, which began at 8 p.m. ET, CNN had the most attention of the cable news networks both in total viewers and viewers in the demo. In total viewers, Fox News followed in second place with 1.41 million viewers while MSNBC came in third place with 1.37 million viewers on average.