Chris Cuomo’s “Cuomo Prime Time” had its lowest-rated month ever in total viewers November, according to Nielsen Media Research ratings data. On the final day of the month, the anchor was suspended by the CNN after the New York Attorney General’s office released correspondence between him and then-governor Andrew Cuomo’s team in which he asked to be able to help craft a response to the sexual harassment accusations mounting against the politician, who is his brother.
“Prime Time” averaged a total of 774,000 viewers in November, of whom 170,000 were in the advertiser-coveted 25 to 54 age demographic. (When the program, which had been test-run before its official debut, permanently launched the first week of June 2018, it averaged 1.137 million total viewers and 377,000 demo viewers.)
By comparison, Fox News’ competing 9 p.m. ET offering, “Hannity,” averaged 3.234 million total viewers in November, with 541,000 in the demo, on average, for a 318% and 218% advantage, respectively. MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” brought in a total average of 1.981 million viewers, with an average of 260,000 in the demo. MSNBC’s advantage over CNN in the 9 p.m. ET time slot was up 156% in total viewers and 53% in demo viewers.
While Cuomo has a reputation for being CNN’s highest-rated primetime anchor, he was also bested by Anderson Cooper in November. “Anderson Cooper 360,” which airs at 8 p.m. ET, brought in 786,000 total average viewers. Notably, Cooper’s program was CNN’s highest-rated in total viewers for the month, but was still the 24th most-viewed show in cable news. The top 10 were all Fox News programs, led by “Tucker Carlson Tonight” and its average of 3.667 million total viewers, with the exception of MSNBC’s “Maddow,” which came in ninth.
In the demo, CNN’s “Erin Burnett Outfront” was the highest performer for the network. Burnett’s 7 p.m. ET show averaged 181,000 viewers between the ages of 25 and 54. Cooper averaged 173,000 demo viewers in November for a second-place finish among his colleagues. Cuomo’s “Prime Time” was even beaten by Wolf Blitzer’s 5 p.m. ET “Situation Room,” which averaged 172,000 demo viewers. Among the key demographic, the top 14 cable news shows for the month all belonged to Fox News, while Maddow came in 15th.
Since January, “Cuomo Prime Time” has sloughed off 76% of its total-viewership audience and 81% of its demo audience.
On Monday, new documents from the New York Attorney General’s office revealed correspondence between the newsman and then-governor Andrew Cuomo’s team in which he asked to help them craft a response to sexual harassment accusations against his politician brother. Cuomo went as far as to say he was using his connections to get at least one “lead” on an accuser, as well as determine if further accusations or stories were coming down the pipeline. Previously, Cuomo’s involvement in his brother’s strategizing was known and he faced no repercussions from CNN, but the extent of that involvement was unknown.
Those revelations led CNN on Tuesday to suspend Cuomo indefinitely from the network and his primetime show.
“The New York Attorney General’s office released transcripts and exhibits Monday that shed new light on Chris Cuomo’s involvement in his brother’s defense,” a CNN spokesperson said Tuesday night. “The documents, which we were not privy to before their public release, raise serious questions. When Chris admitted to us that he had offered advice to his brother’s staff, he broke our rules and we acknowledged that publicly. But we also appreciated the unique position he was in and understood his need to put family first and job second. However, these documents point to a greater level of involvement in his brother’s efforts than we previously knew. As a result, we have suspended Chris indefinitely, pending further evaluation.”