Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
CNN has revealed plans to lay off hundreds of employees as the struggling television network’s chief executive warned of “profound and irreversible shifts” in the way audiences engage with news.
In a memo to staff on Thursday, chief executive Mark Thompson said 200 jobs, or about 6 per cent of CNN’s workforce, would be affected as CNN’s traditional cable TV business suffers sharp falls in viewers.
The lay-offs come as part of a sweeping restructuring as the media group looks to a future beyond traditional television.
Thompson said the total headcount was not expected to fall because the company was investing $70mn into its digital business, which it hopes will reach $1bn in revenue by 2030.
CNN is investing in a TV-like streaming subscription service that will be available on devices around the world, which it hopes will offset the decline in traditional linear TV programming. The group expects hundreds of new roles to be created as a result, with the first 100 positions to be posted and filled in the first half of 2025.
“Some of that money’s going in product and tech, but a lot is also going into new high-quality journalism and storytelling”, said Thompson, in a memo seen by the Financial Times.
CNN is in talks with distribution partners to launch the streaming service later this year.
Thompson, who was appointed chief executive in 2023 with a mandate to restore the fortunes of the ailing cable network, has put digital growth at the heart of his new strategy as the industry faces up the challenge of long term declines in traditional television.
The broadcaster has struggled in the ratings war against Fox News on the right, and MSNBC on the left. The trend was laid bare this week as CNN attracted only a small fraction of the audience it had previously enjoyed for presidential inaugurations.
Just 1.7mn households watched Trump’s inauguration on CNN between 11:30am and 1pm on Monday — down from 10mn in 2021. In comparison, more than 10mn viewers watched the inauguration on Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News.
Overall television viewership of Monday’s inauguration was the lowest in a decade. Less than 25mn Americans tuned in to watch Trump take oath as US president, down from nearly 34mn who watched Biden’s 2021 inauguration and 31mn who viewed Trump’s 2017 ceremony, according to Nielsen data.
“The changes we’re announcing today are part of an ongoing response by this great news organisation to profound and irreversible shifts in the way audiences in America and around the world consume news,” Thompson said. “From linear to digital, fixed to mobile, traditional long-form broadcast to any number of different formats and use-cases.”
He added that the shake up was needed “to secure CNN’s future as one of the world’s greatest news organisations”, adding that “America and the world need high-quality, fair-minded, trustworthy sources of news more than ever”.
Thompson also announced further restructuring of CNN’s newsroom, having last year brought in Alex MacCallum, a former New York Times lieutenant, to lead the transition to digital.
In the memo, Thompson said MacCallum had already established its first direct-to-consumer subscription product, video carousels on digital platforms and refreshed the CNN.com site.
Thompson flagged further plans for digital video, the launch of CNN’s first lifestyle-oriented service and a new premium digital advertising platform.
He also announced changes and cost-cutting plans for the broadcaster’s domestic and international schedules.
