CNN Is Making Some Big Changes

CNN is making some big changes as President Trump's second term begins. In a memo to staffers Thursday morning, CEO Mark Thompson outlined the "next phase of change" at the news organization, which will include laying off around 200 people, 6% of its staff. Thompson described the layoffs as an "unwelcome but inevitable part of the change process." He said the company's headcount would remain around the same, with people involved in traditional TV operations laid off and new employees, including data scientists, hired with the $70 million it is investing in plans to grow its digital business. Thompson said the company is responding to "profound and irreversible shifts in the way audiences in America and around the world consume news."

• New streaming service. A new streaming service will be introduced as part of plans "to develop a new way for digital subscribers at home and abroad to stream news programming from us on any device they choose," Thompson wrote, per the Hollywood Reporter. "It's early days but we've already established that there's immense demand for it not just in America, but across much of the world." CNN also plans to introduce its first "lifestyle-oriented digital product," Thompson wrote.

• Vertical videos. CNN has been focusing on vertical videos, which can be viewed easily on phones. The company plans to publish up to 100 of the videos per day, and it is working on a TikTok-style video news service that lets users swipe through the videos easily, reports the New York Times. "You can use your thumb to flick from a CNN news story to a CNN anchor to a reporter," Thompson tells the Times. "That's a really interesting experiment."
• Viewership is way down. The focus on digital comes as cable TV viewer numbers are sagging. CNN averaged "578,000 prime-time viewers in the three months through December, down by 74% from its peak in the fourth quarter of 2020," according to the Wall Street Journal. During the same period, viewer numbers fell 62% at MSNBC and 27% at Fox News.

• New weekday lineup. CNN announced what Thompson called a "refreshed" weekday lineup: "Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room moves to 10am, and the new two-hour show will include Pamela Brown as co-anchor, replacing Jim Acosta's hour. Audie Cornish, who had been hosting a podcast for CNN, will now anchor a new 6am show, while Kasie Hunt moves to 4pm. Rahel Solomon will also anchor a new show starting at 5am."
• Jim Acosta. A CNN spokesperson said they are in "active discussions" about a new time slot for Acosta. Sources tell the Independent that Thompson spoke to Acosta, an outspoken Trump critic, last week about potentially moving his show to the midnight slot.

(More CNN stories.)