Latest in CNN Ratings

There may soon be a little less news at the Cable News Network. The Time Warner-owned channel says its exploring “non-fiction original series for the weekend” — which indirectly confirms a New York Post story this morning that says CNN is talking to outside producers to propose reality and talk shows. The network…

“We are not satisfied with CNN’s ratings performance and we are focused on fixing it,” Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes told analysts this morning. The problem isn’t that the news network can’t attract viewers. It’s that they don’t hang around once they’ve caught up with the headlines. He hopes to change that by offering…

September seemed to smile on Anderson Cooper. CNN says that its prime time ratings for the month are up 46% (to 253,000) in its target 25-54 demo, and 34% (to 769,000) in total viewers, vs. the same time last year. And a big part of that is due to Anderson Cooper 360: In the competition with Fox News and MSNBC, CNN…

CNN’s former dominance in coverage of major international crises is long gone. Fox News leads the cable news ratings for the coverage of the unrest in Egypt so far by a wide margin, but the continuous coverage of the turmoil in Cairo has lifted CNN from No.3 to No.2 in most categories. From Monday through Thursday…

It was an eventful day in Piers Morgan news world. After hitting a ratings and an all-around low for his interview with the Kardashian sisters last week, it became clear that Morgan should be going for better guests. His producers agree, hiring a new booker, 15-year ABC News veteran Katie Thompson who worked primarily…

The second season premiere of FX’s animated comedy Archer last night drew 1.5 million viewers, 986,000 of them in the adults 18-49 demographic. It was down 16% from the series premiere last year but significantly outperformed its first season average. Interesting footnote: Archer‘s lead-in, a rerun of Two and a Half Me…

With so much attention focused on MTV’s phenomenon Jersey Shore and BET’s The Game, History’s less noisy series Pawn Stars and American Pickers often get overlooked. But last week, they ranked No.4, 5 and 6 behind Jersey Shore and The Game among all cable series in total viewers. And last night, they broke rating…

Well, with guest Ricky Gervais CNN’s Piers Morgan didn’t quite smackdown Sean Hannity. "If I don't smack you down tonight with Howard, I'll take you on Thursday with Ricky Gervais. love Piers," Morgan tweeted to the Fox News host on Tuesday before his second show with Howard Stern. That night, he edged Hannity in…

Piers Morgan started off promisingly as a close No. 2  cable news program at 9PM in its Monday premiere, then fell 40% on Tuesday but still finished second. Last night, Piers Morgan Tonight (1 million total viewers, 239,000 of them in the 25-54 demographic) slipped further to finish behind the time slot leader, Fox…

Despite a popular and controversial guest, Howard Stern, the second edition of Piers Morgan’s new talk show on CNN drew 1.27 million viewers, down almost 40% from its Monday premiere. But Stern proved its demo mettle by helping Morgan climb 6% in adults 25-54 (550,719) from the premiere and edge the 9 PM slot leader…

In his heavily publicized debut last night, CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight drew 2.1 million viewers, 520,519 of them in the 25-54 demographic. Morgan couldn’t dethrone the reigning king in the 9 PM slot, Fox News’s Sean Hannity (2.4 million, 599,800 in 25-54), who had Sarah Palin on, but crushed MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show…

As he is getting ready to take on daytime with his new syndicated talk show next fall, Anderson Cooper’s primetime fortunes are falling. His CNN show Anderson Cooper 360 is wrapping 2010 as its lowest rated year ever in primetime among adults 25-54 and second lowest in total viewers behind only its primetime debut in…