CNN cuts 6% of jobs in strategy pivot to focus on streaming

ATLANTA – Warner Bros Discovery’s CNN division sacked 6 per cent of its workforce, or about 200 employees, on Jan 23 as the cable news network focuses on streaming and digital audiences amid declining ratings.

Chief executive Mark Thompson told staff that Warner Bros will invest US$70 million (S$94.4 million) to help support CNN’s pivot and that the money will be used in part to hire about 100 new employees in the first half of 2025 focused on the company’s “new digital path”, including a new streaming service for the classic CNN TV.

“The changes we’re announcing today are part of an ongoing response by this great news organisation to profound and irreversible shifts in the way audiences in America and around the world consume news,” Mr Thompson said in a memo to staff reviewed by Bloomberg.

“Our objective is a simple one: to shift CNN’s gravity towards the platforms and products where the audience themselves are shifting,” he added.

Like other TV news outlets, CNN has faced declining ratings as more consumers move from cable TV to streaming and obtain their news from other sources, such as influencers.

CNN and MSNBC have also seen drops in viewership following US President Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, while Fox News’ audience has climbed.

As cable TV suffers a widespread decline in viewers, CNN has been building a digital subscription product to provide news tailored to consumers’ new viewing habits.

In October, CNN.com introduced an online paywall that requires readers to pay US$4 a month once they run out of free articles and limits some stories only to subscribers.

Mr Thompson said in the memo that there were plans to “to develop a new way for digital subscribers at home and abroad to stream news programming from us on any device they choose”.

The network is also moving further into video and has plans to launch a “lifestyle-oriented product” later in 2025.

CNN said it plans to rearrange its television line-up, including its weekday show hosts.

In legal proceedings earlier in January, in which the company was found liable for defamation and ordered to pay US$5 million in damages, it was revealed that the network has seen its net income fall by one-third since 2021 to US$400 million in 2023.

Warner Bros has had its own share of struggles. The company wrote down the value of its traditional TV networks by US$9.1 billion in 2024 and eliminated more than 2,000 positions, including 100 at CNN.

The media giant was also outbid for rights to air National Basketball Association games, despite a decades-long partnership between the league and Warner Bros’ TNT network. BLOOMBERG