Jim Acosta’s Show Tanks At CNN Without Trump As Foil, Down 40% Since He Took Job
Jim Acosta took one look at the ratings and must have realized that without Trump as a foil he is in deep trouble. Acosta shot to fame fighting with Trump during White House press briefings and got his own show on CNN as a reward.
Acosta was named anchor of the weekend edition of “CNN Newsroom” between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. ET on Saturdays and 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. ET on Sundays. Since Jim took over the ratings have dropped and while CNN as a whole has seen its rating tumble, this is different.
CNN averaged 1.247 million viewers on Saturdays between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. ET during all of 2020, 36% more than the average for the show when Acosta anchors.
The show has also seen a 41% drop from the network’s average viewers in the timeslot over the first three months of 2021
From Fox News:
Acosta’s viewership issue is worse on Sundays, when his edition of “CNN Newsroom” has averaged 710,000 viewers. That’s a staggering 41% drop from the network’s average of 1.196 million viewers in the timeslot over the first three months of 2021.
CNN averaged 1.149 million viewers on Sundays between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. ET over 2020, indicating that Acosta has lost 38% of last year’s audience.
The numbers don’t get any brighter when focusing on the key demographic of adults between the ages of 25-54, where Acosta’s program is down 40% compared to 2020 on Saturday and 43% on Sunday.
During his time in the White House, Acosta sparred with everyone from a trio of press secretaries and senior policy adviser Stephen Miller to Trump himself — developing a reputation for grandstanding and shouting questions at inappropriate times.
He famously refused to give up the microphone in 2018 after he engaged in a contentious back-and-forth with Trump during a heated post-midterm election press conference.
During the shocking scene, Acosta refused to pass the microphone to a female White House aide, instigating brief contact between the two.
His White House pass was revoked later that day but it was eventually restored when CNN argued that it violated the First and Fifth Amendment rights of Acosta and the network.
Jim Acosta = RESOL https://t.co/MvOMF1FJhK
— TrumpsBorderPatrol (@Border45Patrol) April 23, 2021
Now imagine them dumping this in front of a TV network. Jim Acosta would melt down. https://t.co/Kof1txhwlZ
— NewsBusters (@newsbusters) April 22, 2021