(LifeSiteNews) – CNN’s subscription content service CNN+ is falling well below the left-wing media network’s expectations, reportedly to the consternation of one of its most high-profile defectors from Fox News.
CNBC reported that CNN+, which costs $5.99 per month or $59.99 per year, currently enjoys fewer than 10,000 daily users two weeks after its March 29 launch.
“It’s ahead of my expectations in terms of where the subscribers are, the engagement, the receptiveness that we’re getting in terms of people’s response to the journalists of CNN+,” Jeff Kilar, former CEO of parent company WarnerMedia, claimed to CNBC. “I couldn’t be more proud of that team.” A spokesperson added that the company “continue[s] to be happy with the launch and its progress after only two weeks.”
But i>Axios reported that the service’s early performance and projections going forward have disappointed company insiders to the point that “hundreds of millions” of dollars are now expected to be cut from initial plans to invest $1 billion in CNN+ over the next four years.
This internal disappointment comes amid a transition period for the company, as WarnerMedia recently emerged with media giant Discovery, with incoming CNN boss Chris Licht not starting until next month. Also among the possible factors hamstringing the rollout were the app’s initial lack of availability on Roku devices, and that it continues to be unavailable via Android TV.
The only way you’re going to encourage people to pay money to consume something new is by making sampling that content easy. Think about Substack. They give away parts – and sometimes all! -of articles to hook you, and encourage the sale. But CNN makes it impossible to sample. 2/
— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) April 13, 2022
I’m not saying CNN+ can’t succeed. But right now, 2 weeks in, there are zero avenues to sample the content for free… and no one is going to subscribe blindly, even at 3 bucks a month right now.
Perhaps a sampling strategy will kick in soon. But right now, it’s non-existent.
8/— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) April 13, 2022
Regardless, the situation is reportedly especially disappointing to CNN+ host Chris Wallace, a longtime former Fox News anchor who left the network last month claiming he “no longer felt comfortable with” some of his conservative colleagues supposedly “start[ing] to question the truth” about the 2020 presidential election and the following January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
On Tuesday, News Cycle Media president Jon Nicosia said sources have told him Wallace is “having daily breakdowns” over the “miserable launch” of CNN+, that he “is threatening to walk” if he doesn’t get a show on CNN proper, is “having staffers count how many times a day his promo is playing,” and is “telling anyone that will listen he wants [Chris] Cuomo’s old time slot.”
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) April 12, 2022
Despite his claimed devotion to truth, during his time at Fox, Wallace came under fire for biased and misleading performance in his coverage of various issues, most notably his role as moderator of the first presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden.