Post-Zimmerman Murder Trial: CNN and HLN Sink Like a Rock … CNN Drops 32% in Viewership and HLN Falls 50%

Following the George Zimmerman murder trial, both CNN and HLN plummet back down to earth as CNN drops 32% in viewership and HLN falls 50%.

Obviously networks that devoted time to the George Zimmerman murder trial were going to see a gain in viewership during the trial. Both CNN and HLN did so. CNN showed the trial during the day, although many individuals most likely watched the live feeds on the internet from local Florida media. HLN also devoted a lot of time during the Zimmerman trial because many of their shows are crime related. It only made sense that their ratings would have increased, much the same they did during the Casey Anthony murder trail. I actually have to disagree, for one of the few times, with Breitbart’s analysis of the loss of viewership following the Zimmerman trial. The reason why CNN and HLN experienced a severe drop in viewership was not because of Nancy Grace and her anti-Zimmerman sentiment or that CNN lost viewers because of their refusal to call Zimmerman a Hispanic. It was not because many of the hosts and guests openly rooted against Zimmerman or continued to falsely call the murder of Trayvon Martin a racial hate crime. This was not a case of losing viewers during the trial, it was not until after.

Nancy Grace doing herself no favors in further fanning the flames of racism as she did not get the verdict she wanted in the George Zimmerman murder trial

The reason why CNN and HLN lost viewers is simple. It is the same reason why they gained them. Both networks devoted much of their air time to a news story that many people wanted to watch. Obviously people were going to tune in to the daily trial and then watch the follow up of the pundits discussing the days activities, jury testimony, evidence presented, hosts opinions, guest analysis and court room antics. It only makes sense that when the carnival comes to town, people attend. However, when it is over, so is the viewership. People were interested in the trial, not post trial. That always happens when ever any big time trial plays on on TV. When the trial is over, the networks viewership sinks back to what they previously were prior to the inflated one’s caused by the trial in the first place. No matter the fact that Nancy Grace, Jane Velez-Mitchell, CNN and HLN wanted to cling on to their new found ratings even after the trial was over was not going to happen. In the end, it is simply a matter of supply and demand.

Considering their previous lows, both CNN and HLN enjoyed respectable viewer gains in the month of July, but the latest ratings that look at a full week of post-Zimmerman trial viewership shows that both networks might be falling back to earth. TV Newser reports that last week, CNN saw its viewership plummet -32%. HLN fared even worse with a -50% drop-off.

Fox News, however, continues to dominate its cable news competition. In all of cable, Fox beat CNN and MSNBC combined during primetime and ranked 4th in total primetime viewers, behind only the USA Network, TNT, and the History Channel.

In total day viewers, Fox News ranked 5th in all of cable.

TV Newser reports that “CNN placed 36th in primetime and 31st in total day, while MSNBC placed 32nd in both categories.”

HLN did not rank in the top 40.