While costly missteps, bad newsroom morale and low ratings flavored the narrative of former CNN CEO Chris Lichts firing this week, advertising intelligence company MediaRadar reveals that a precipitous recent decline in ad sales revenue for CNN probably factored into Licht's departure, as well.
According to MediaRadar data, over 2,000 companies spent $312.6 million from January through April on CNN digital and linear TV ads. That was down 39% from the same four-month period of 2022.
April was particularly slow, the firm noted, with CNN ad sales declining 48% to just $80 million.
“Our data analysis suggests a significant downward trend in CNN's ad revenue during Chris Licht's tenure, reflecting substantial declines both in total spend and in the number of advertisers,” said Todd Krizelman, CEO and co-founder of MediaRadar, in a statement.
MediaRadar also said that CNN has been attracting fewer advertisers of late.
From January through April 2022, 68 companies had invested $2 million or more on CNN outlets, and were collectively responsible for nearly $236 million during that period.
In stark contrast, for the same timeframe in 2023, there were only 17 companies investing at this level, a 75% year-over-year decrease.
These companies accounted for a mere $95 million, marking a 60% collective spend decrease. Major corporations, including Thumbtack, Apple, Cisco Systems and The Walt Disney Company, have all reduced their ad spend with CNN by over 90% year over year, MediaRadar added.
