Should CNN Change Their Formula To Get Out of Third Place?

As CNN weathers nearly daily attacks from the White House and the right, blow-ups on air have increasingly become part of their brand. The network has seen its star rise during President Trump’s first 15 months in office, but it has stuck to it’s tried and true formula — regularly staging “food fights,” as The Hollywood Reporter calls the partisan-debate-fueled segments that go viral but don’t necessarily make viewers more informed.

But CNN has remained stuck in third place in prime time views. According to THR, last year, MSNBC overtook CNN in total viewers for total day, and that trend continued into the first quarter of 2018. Should the network try changing its “outdated” formula to move up?

Some industry analysts say yes. “That, to me, is why their ratings are suffering,” Angelo Carusone, president of the left-leaning advocacy group Media Matters for America said to THR. “They think that this clash model is somehow good for ratings, and it’s not.”