WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar apologized for saying coronavirus is “really good for [CNN] ratings” in the course of the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference.
WarnerMedia is the mum or dad firm of CNN.
“It turns out that pandemic is a pretty big part of the news cycle, and that’s not going away anytime soon,” Kilar said, noting that issues are completely different as of late “from a political drama perspective,” however luckily for CNN and WarnerMedia they nonetheless have the lethal virus to fall again on. He went on:
If you check out the rankings and the efficiency, it’s going nicely. And I feel it’s going nicely as a result of, A, the staff at CNN is doing a implausible job. And B, it seems that the pandemic and the way in which that we may also help inform and contextualize the pandemic, it seems it’s actually good for rankings.
The feedback have been first reported by Wall Street Journal media correspondent Joe Flint.
“It turns out the pandemic is a pretty big part of the news cycle and that’s not going away any time soon…It turns out it’s really good for ratings.” Jason Kilar on post-Trump CNN. Careful. That’s terrible near Moonves line that Trump could also be unhealthy for U.S. however he’s good for CBS.
— Joe Flint (@JBFlint) March 4, 2021
Kilar responded to Flint about an hour after his tweet, apologizing for his phrasing and saying he’s looking forward to the pandemic to finish.
I agree Joe. I would really like nothing greater than for this pandemic to be nicely behind us. I imply that with each fiber in my physique. I want I might return and be extra considerate about my communication.
— Jason Kilar (@jasonkilar) March 4, 2021
CNN and Fox News Channel split the prime time rankings title in February, with Fox News successful amongst whole viewers and CNN taking first place amongst viewers 25-54, the important thing demographic most valued by advertisers. CNN’s rankings efficiency marked the community’s best-ever February.
Fox News Channel’s whole viewers of two.473 million viewers in prime time led all cable information networks, adopted by MSNBC (2.193 million viewers), and CNN (1.687 million viewers). In the important thing demo, CNN was first with 411,000 viewers, adopted by FNC (365,000 viewers), and MSNBC (340,000 viewers).
