CNN Climate Town Hall Critical Hit, Ratings Miss

CNN's seven-hour, climate-themed town hall got praise for its content, but middling TV ratings, Mediaite reported.

Citing Nielsen data, Mediaite reported CNN averaged 1.1 million total viewers during the time period between 5 p.m. and midnight ET, and 265,000 in the advertiser-coveted adults 25-54 demographic.

That left them in third place, behind MSNBC, with 1.6 million total viewers, and first-place Fox News, with 2.4 million total viewers during the same time period, Mediaite reported.

CNN drew slightly more primetime total viewers, with 1.4 million tuning in from 8 p.m.-11 p.m. ET — a 4% bump from this year's total day average. But the 345,000 demo number was off 5% from the 2019 average, and 29% from the same day last year.

Despite the middling numbers, the event was a critical hit.

"CNN managed to host seven hours of sustained, substantive, primetime discussion on climate change — something that would have been unthinkable even six months ago — with very little fat on it," Vox's David Roberts wrote. "For as often as the network is criticized for its climate coverage, it deserves enormous credit for this."

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