CNN+ is facing investment cuts and lowered projections after a brutal rollout for the news streaming service, Axios reports.
CNN hyped the launch of its streaming-only product for months, signing big names like former Fox News anchor Chris Wallace and Scott Galloway and adding well-known names like Jake Tapper and Anderson Cooper to the streaming lineup.
The news giant planned to invest about $1 billion into the streaming service over the next four years and has already spent $300 million on the launch.
But the hundreds of millions are now expected to be cut from the investment total.
The future of the streaming network is already unclear. CNN’s new boss Chris Licht, the former Stephen Colbert producer who also worked on Morning Joe and CBS This Morning, will take over next month.
Projections were way off:
CNN executives hired consulting firm McKinsey and worked up projections expecting to hit 2 million subscribers in the U.S. in the first year and over 15 million subscribers over four years.
The projections expected the service to break even after four years.
But sources told Axios those projections will need to be “dramatically reduced,” especially if the investment is also cut.
Low ratings:
A separate report from CNBC revealed that the new network is averaging just 10,000 daily users.
By comparison, CNN’s cable network is seen by an average of 773,000 viewers per day.
Disney+ reported 10 million subscribers on its first day.
CNN just launched on Roku this week and still isn't available on Android TV.
The CNBC report suggested it was possible that CNN+ will eventually be rolled into a bundle that includes other Warner Bros. Discovery networks HBO Max and Discovery+.
