Streaming fatigue part 2
CNN+ came and went very quickly to say the least…
CNN+ was born on March 29 and is already shutting down on April 30. What happened to the video streaming service from the iconic news brand?
Such fate could be explained by two factors:
1/Little differentiation from core products
The service featured shows with well-known journalists such as Chris Wallace, Wolf Blitzer, Kasie Hunt, Don Lemon and others. Yes, the form factor might be slightly different from CNN’s TV programming and its main website yet the information was too similar and brought little value to the existing audience. Why pay $5.99 per month when you can easily access similar content?
2/Parent company being impatient
Now let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Sources reported that CNN+ had fewer than 10,000 users on a daily basis. This obviously didn’t please its new parent company Warner Bros. Discovery which owns successful streaming brands such as HBO Max and Discovery+. Those humbling audience numbers come after a $300 million investment to develop the service.
Perhaps the property could have been reworked and ultimately saved but Warner Bros. Discovery seem to disagree.
RIP CNN+
This story was first published on The PhilaVerse (my Substack newsletter).
