Veteran news anchor Chris Wallace, who once helmed one of the most popular and influential Sunday news programs in all of television at Fox News, is barely making a dent in the industry at his new employer, CNN.
Specifically, January will be an ugly mark on Wallace’s resume as his show, “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace,” pulled in abysmal ratings — the worst viewership numbers since his program was launched in the spring of 2022.
Nielsen data revealed that for the first month of this year, Wallace’s show averaged only 365,000 viewers. Even worse, in advertisers’ coveted 25-54 demographic, his struggling program pulled in an average of just 48,000 viewers.
The Washington Examiner noted that on Sunday, “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace” managed to pull down only 323,000 viewers and 38,000 in the 25-54 demo. Yikes.
Making matters worse, Wallace’s failing show came on the heels of the utterly humiliating CNN+ experiment, which is where he landed after stunning viewers in 2021 with his abrupt exit from Fox News.
Explaining why he left the network, he told The New York Times in March 2022, “I’m fine with opinion: conservative opinion, liberal opinion. But when people start to question the truth — Who won the 2020 election? Was Jan. 6 an insurrection? — I found that unsustainable.”
As you might recall, CNN had high hopes that Wallace’s star power would make the paid streaming service a household staple, but CNN+ was shut down by the network after less than a month in operation.
Wallace can’t win for losing these days, it seems.
It’s not that people aren’t tuning into Sunday news programs, either. Take a gander at former Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy’s Sunday Fox News show for proof.
“Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy” managed to garner over 1 million viewers on average in January, according to US TVDB. Gowdy also roughly doubled the number of 25-54 demographic viewers that Wallace pulled in.
In addition to Wallace’s poor showing, CNN has taken a steady beating in the ratings in recent months, even falling to an embarrassing record low a few weeks ago.
For the week of Jan. 16-22, the network’s ratings collapsed to a nine-year low, with only 444,000 viewers for CNN’s primetime lineup. It also struggled to reel in much in the way of 25-54 demographic viewers with just 93,000.
Again, it’s not a matter of fewer viewers watching TV these days. By comparison, in the same period, Fox News hauled in 2 million primetime viewers and landed 256,000 in the prime 25-54 demographic.
It’s almost as if Americans are no longer interested in the radical progressive narratives pushed by CNN.
Simon Ateba, the chief White House correspondent for Today News Africa, asked his Twitter followers if they had any advice for Wallace.
JUST IN: Chris Wallace sees lowest ratings since leaving @FoxNews and Joining @CNN. Any advice for Mr. Wallace? pic.twitter.com/RH2eJaCQDx
— Simon Ateba (@simonateba) February 1, 2023
A suggestion given by many of those who responded to his question, including lawyer Harmeet K. Dhillon, was simply one word: “Retire.”
Retire!
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) February 1, 2023
Others slammed Wallace’s reputation and contrasted it with the legacy of his father, longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent Mike Wallace.
“Retire. You’ve had your time and couldn’t achieve what your father did. HE was a journalist,” one Twitter user wrote.
Retire. You’ve had your time and couldn’t achieve what your father did. HE was a journalist.
— JoAnn Garcia ?? (@JoAnnDSRTX01) February 1, 2023
It’ll be fascinating to see what comes of CNN this year if it continues to post viewership numbers at the bottom of the barrel.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
