CNN+ another proof that people do not pay for news?

Author Moonshot.news

Published on: 22/04/2022

It collapsed after just three weeks! CNN has announced that it is closing its recently launched streaming subscription news service CNN+ at the end of April making it the most short lived service launched by one of the giant media companies.

CNN+ is said to have attracted no more than around 10 000 viewers per day after the company had spent some USD 300 million on developing the service. The company said subscribers would be refunded. The hundreds of staff would get a six month compensation if they were not given other jobs within the company.

Earlier in April, Warned Bros Discovery (WBD) became the owner of CNN as the merger of Discovery and telco AT&T was finalized. The new owner´s new strategy was said to be the explanation to the super short life for the streaming service. The merger was announced long ago and the last step was a formality. Why a new strategy for streaming services would have to be a surprise is not known.

CNN reports the prior management team’s vision for CNN+ runs counter to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s plan to house all of the company’s brands under one streaming service.

Some CNN+ programming may eventually live on through that service. Other programming will shift to CNN’s main television network, CNN reported.

“In a complex streaming market, consumers want simplicity and an all-in service which provides a better experience and more value than stand-alone offerings, and, for the company, a more sustainable business model to drive our future investments in great journalism and storytelling,” Discovery’s streaming boss J.B. Perrette said in a statement.

“We have very exciting opportunities ahead in the streaming space and CNN, one of the world’s premier reputational assets, will play an important role there,” Perrette said.

CNN reports that Perrette and incoming CNN CEO Chris Licht notified staffers of the decision in a meeting on Thursday afternoon. Licht bluntly told employees it was a “uniquely shitty situation.”

Internal power struggles are not an unknown factor in the CNN. Many said power struggles was the background when its by many appreciated boss Jeff Zucker recently was forced to resign with immediate effect because he had not informed bosses about having a romantic relationship with one of his closest associates.

The CNN+ dramatic message came at the same time as video streaming entertainment leader Netflix reported it had lost 200 000 subscribers in the first quarter of 2022. Its shares fell dramatically and approximately USD 50 billion of share value was lost.

There has lately been contradicting reports on the streaming video market. The trend has been that people leave traditional TV in favour of streaming video. The streaming entertainment had a boom during the pandemic when cinema theatres and were close down.

The question has been how the market will develop now when the worst of the pandemic seems to be over and societies are opening up. Most recently a report by market research company Kanthar in the UK showed that 1.5 million streaming subscriptions had been cancelled in the first quarter with people referring to inflation, higher cost of living and saying they wanted to save money.

A survey by measurement firm Nielsen showned that close to 50% of viewers in the US were disturbed by the amount of streaming video offered saying they felt overwhelmed and had a difficulty finding what to watch.

However, Nielsen said a take way from its survey was that streaming consumption was expected to grow with  93% of respondents saying they will increase their paid streaming services or make no changes of their subscription plans over the year.