The abrupt departure of CNN Chairman and CEO Chris Licht could help reposition the cable news network to advertisers after a tumultuous year. 

Licht’s 13-month-long tenure at CNN was a turbulent one—the infamous month-long life of CNN+, fumbling the placement and firing of Don Lemon, the recent town hall with former President Donald Trump and a scorching profile earlier this week in The Atlantic documenting tension with CNN’s staff and talent. Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery announced Licht was out on Wednesday. He'd been appointed in May 2022 to replace Jeff Zucker. 

This all comes as news took center stage in the TV upfronts due to the writers’ strike (and impending actors’ strike), putting scripted content into question, as well as a looming 2024 election cycle, all of which lead advertisers to believe the move might be positive for CNN.

“The reality is that CNN ratings have been in a nosedive, so hopefully this change is a positive one in terms of direction of the network and ratings turnaround,” said one media buyer, noting CNN’s struggles were already a concern leading into the upfront.

The buyer pointed to the Trump town hall—a move Licht had hoped would position CNN as a neutral news source after the former president has repeatedly slammed the network as a liberal propagandist—as a turning point. Instead, CNN received backlash for hosting the town hall, with critics deeming it akin to a “Trump special” or “Trump spectacle.” 

“Ideally this change introduces stability,” said the buyer. “It’s especially important as we head into the primary season and ultimately the general election cycle that this change was made now so CNN can properly prepare.”

An immediate replacement was not announced, but Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in a statement that “we know we have work to do as we look to identify a new leader.” Licht is being replaced by a group of four executives in the interim—Amy Entelis, executive VP of talent and content development, Virginia Moseley, executive VP of editorial, and Eric Sherling, executive VP of U.S. programming, to lead the creative side, and David Leavy, chief operating officer, to lead business operations, according to a memo from Warner Bros. Discovery.

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CNN delivered 33.5 billion ad impressions in the first quarter of 2023, down from 44.8 billion impressions in the same quarter last year, according to data from iSpot.tv. Interest in news was high in the year-ago period, as Ukraine invaded Russia in February 2022. Across all CNN linear programming, there were 1.4% fewer ad airings year-over-year in the first quarter, and 8.7% fewer ad airings during primetime.

According to Nielsen, CNN trailed competitors Fox News and MSNBC substantially in primetime viewing. Despite the loss of top talent Tucker Carlson, Fox News still led cable news in May with an average 1.09 million total day viewers, followed by MSNBC with an average 736,000. CNN averaged 416,000 total day viewers throughout the month.

Evolving TV market

For others, Licht’s exit signals the larger evolution of the TV market rather than directly impacting advertisers. Three additional media buyers said the move wouldn’t directly impact upfront negotiations or news advertisers’ decisions to opt in or out of buying ad time on CNN. The network exemplifies the conundrum of news in a streaming future, particularly as Warner Bros. Discovery continues its mission of cutting costs and offloading some of its $49.5 billion in debt (according to the company’s first-quarter earnings report) since the merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery.

“An advertiser who wants news-based audiences probably still prioritizes CNN along with network news,” said Brian Wieser, industry analyst and founder of consultancy Madison and Wall. More than advertising, CNN in its current form relies on revenues from affiliate station fees and cable subscriptions, Wieser said. 

“In a world where streaming does not favor news, what is the future of CNN? By the end of the decade, a third of the country will have access to CNN, and that’s why CNN+ was so important. You didn’t have to agree with what exactly they were doing, but they were trying something versus what they’re doing now—which is exactly nothing,” Wieser said. 

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By 2025, pay TV is forecasted to fall below 50% penetration in U.S. households, according to a report from GroupM. And viewership has long been trending toward streaming—Nielsen’s most recent rendition of its viewership tracking report, The Gauge, put streaming’s share of viewership at 34% versus cable’s 31.5% share.

“If [the TV advertising market] gets a little bit worse than they expect, and cord-cutting gets a little more aggressive than they expect, [Warner Bros. Discovery] has to sell assets,” said Wieser.