CNN’s Chris Wallace to move to Friday primetime in latest move to boost network’s ratings
CNN is shifting Chris Wallace and his “best of” celebrity interview show to Friday nights at 10 p.m. — ending its Sunday night broadcasts in the cable network’s latest attempt to boost its sagging primetime ratings.
A truncated version of Wallace’s show, “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace,” which is a streaming-first program that is available to viewers every Friday morning on HBO Max, will air some 12 hours later on the sister cable news channel owned by parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.
CNN told the news site Mediaite that the third season of “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace” will debut on the morning of April 28 while the “best of” version will air at 10 p.m. that same day.
“We’re thrilled that the CNN audience will now get to see these newsmaking interviews the same day that they are available on HBO Max,” a spokesperson told Mediaite.
In an effort to bolster its Sunday night lineup, CNN has been airing a “best of” montage of Wallace’s show at 7 p.m. on Sunday nights — or three days after the full versions stream on HBO Max.
Wallace’s show has struggled to gain traction in the Nielsen ratings.
In the first quarter of 2023, which spans December of last year through March of this year, Wallace’s show averages 431,000 total viewers — 37% less than the 679,000 people who on average tuned in to “CNN Newsroom” during the same period last year, according to Nielsen.
In the advertiser-coveted 25-54 age demographic, Wallace’s show drew just 63,000 viewers in the first quarter, according to Nielsen — or 62% less than the 166,000 who watched “CNN Newsroom” during the same period last year.
But sources sympathetic to Wallace point out that his show is geared toward a streaming audience and that viewership numbers for HBO Max are generally unavailable.
They also note that three of the last five episodes of the show during the first season beat out Fox News in the 25-54 demographic.
Wallace’s defenders also note that his show consistently beats MSNBC.
Nonetheless, critics charge that this is not what CNN had in mind when they handed Wallace a contract worth millions of dollars to headline a stable of marquee acquisitions for its now-defunct CNN+ streaming service.
“The $8+ million CNN is paying Chris Wallace can’t even be monetized given his miniscule ratings so more shuffling of the deck chairs is unlikely to have any impact,” a TV insider told The Post.
“It’s one programming failure after another.”
Wallace’s boss, CNN head honcho Chris Licht, has been looking for the winning formula in primetime.
The network recently unveiled a new “60 Minutes”-style newsmagazine featuring Anderson Cooper, that will air on Sunday nights.
Licht is also reportedly set to try out former White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins in the role of solo primetime anchor in hopes of filling the shoes of the fired Chris Cuomo.
The Post has sought comment from CNN.
