CNN Counts On Zahn To Boost Prime Time Ratings

Atlanta Journal & Constitution ^ | 07/05/03 | Caroline Wilbert

[kcordell]

CNN counts on Zahn in prime-time battle

By CAROLINE WILBERT The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

After more than a month off the air, Paula Zahn returned to CNN on a recent weeknight with a typically poised explanation.

Dressed in a coral suit with matching necklace, she explained in a few quick sentences that she was on vacation for a while and now will be hosting an 8 p.m. news show. The show is "a work in progress" that will roll out new features, contributors and set in coming weeks, she added.

"I'm very excited," said Zahn, who used to host the network's morning show. "The future looks great."

If only a prime-time solution was that simple for CNN.

For two years, the network has been playing second fiddle to archrival Fox News in prime time -- and continually reworking its lineup.

The current strategy is to use Zahn, the pert but businesslike veteran CNN hired away from Fox in 2001.

CNN wants a hard-news program that also is engaging enough to woo prime-time viewers.

It hasn't been an easy balance for news networks to strike. By 8 p.m., many viewers already have caught up on news of the day and want something different.

CNN's last attempt, "Connie Chung Tonight," did relatively well in the ratings. Still, the show's tabloid style didn't represent the company's desired hard-news image, and it was canceled.

Fox News has hit the prime-time jackpot with "The O'Reilly Factor," a combative talk show with the conservative-leaning Bill O'Reilly that entertains viewers and draws the biggest ratings in cable news.

That formula isn't easy to copy, however. Other attempts at talk shows, including two on MSNBC -- Phil Donahue's liberal counterpoint, canceled in February, and the network's current show with Keith Olbermann -- haven't been able to replicate the success.

No ratings boost

CNN is a distant second in ratings in the 8 p.m. time slot -- and Zahn's reappearance so far hasn't jump-started the ratings.

It may be too early to gauge the ratings success, as the show has not been fully rolled out and has not been promoted.

In its first week, Zahn's show drew an average of 552,000 viewers, compared with 2.16 million for O'Reilly on Fox News and 240,000 for Olbermann on MSNBC.

CNN viewership fell 2 percent from the week before in the time slot.

"We measure our success based on ourselves," CNN spokeswoman Christa Robinson said. "Our objective will be to continue to grow our audience over time. We all know you don't build an audience overnight."

The network competes against more than just other news networks, though. In prime time, all networks, including broadcast giants, throw out their best fare, said Larry Gerbrandt, chief operating officer of Kagan World Media.

The good news, Gerbrandt said, is that more people have their televisions on during prime time than at any other time, so there are more viewers to share.

Jim Walton was named president of CNN in January, and he set about returning the network to a hard-news focus. He canceled shows that didn't fit the image, including Chung's program and "Talk Back Live." Debate show "Crossfire" was demoted to a half-hour slot in the afternoon.

In April, CNN announced that Zahn would anchor a two-hour hard-news show from 7-9 p.m. The move was a gamble, as Zahn, arguably the network's biggest star, had grown ratings in the morning and developed a following.

"We are making a statement that we want a news program in prime time," Teya Ryan, general manager of CNN/U.S., said at the time.

The network, which hired producer Jim Miller to work with Zahn, since has scaled the show back to one hour. Zahn said she didn't want to pad a longer program with filler.

Reese Schonfeld, the founding president of CNN who still tracks news networks closely, thinks a hard-news program could do well at 8 p.m., if done right. There is no direct competition, since other news networks have talk shows at that time.

"But the news may be stale, unless you work hard to make it new," he said.

Zahn's show, yet to be named, will be driven by live interviews, which Zahn sees as one of her strengths, she said.

On her first night back on the air she had ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani join her at the desk -- perhaps a nod to the importance of the New York audience.

Magazine style

There also will be magazine-style packages from around the world. A cast of contributors will join Zahn. Some will be hired from outside the network and some regular CNNers also will work on the program.

"I think people are so comfortable with the remote [control]," Miller said. "Three minutes into 'Friends' they may decide they don't like the story line. ... We have to give them a reason to stop clicking."

Miller is confident despite the challenge. When asked if it is frustrating to have Zahn's show on this summer before all the features, including the cast of contributors, are ready, he said: "It is only awkward in that we are a Porsche going 40 miles an hour."

[DPB101]

Someday soon a news channel will do the obvious. Pretty faces are fine but to hypnotize male views they need cleavage. Then they can run a crawl at the bottom of the screen with ads on it.

[Caipirabob]

And the best part is, like the also plummeting New York Times, they don't even know what their problem is. And I doubt that any Freepers will tell them.

I dunno, here at FR we've been telling them for years. To sum it all up though, I think we've seen smarter bricks...

[speedy]

Agreed. Paula will not be remembered as one of the towering intellects of our time.

[Ditter]

You are not alone in your dislike of Zahn. I was so glad when CNN hired her away from Fox. Now I don't have to watch her anymore.

[ConservativeMan55]

I feel your pain.

[krunkygirl]

It would not matter if they did know what the problem is---you (meaning Liberals) CANNOT tell the truth when your truth is so off-putting to real people...

[Nick Danger]

"It is only awkward in that we are a Porsche going 40 miles an hour."

Yeah, and a year from now they'll be going 50 if they're lucky. It could as easily turn out to be 30. This kind of churn in prime time is evidence of desperation.

Connie Chung drew an audience. Most people here probably didn't like her, but as my father used to say, "There's an @ss for every seat." Roll her out and bring in Aaron Brown, and a fair number of the Connie Chung viewers will leave. They liked Connie Chung, and Aaron Brown is a totally different kind of "viewing experience."

Whatever Aaron Brown's faults, there were bound to be some people who thought he was just The Greatest Thing.

Now some of them leave, too. Every time they churn this show, they lose some fraction of the people who liked it the way it was. How many people does CNN think are out there whose idea of a good time is to watch a cable news show? Where do they think these Paula Zahn watchers are going to come from? Fox? It is to laugh. If they haven't figured it out yet, here's a vowel: the people watching Fox do not like CNN's politics. They could put J Lo on there in a negligee... once the novelty wore off, it'd be back to O'Reilly.

Whether CNN likes it or not, their world has been forever segmented by Fox News. The conservatives are gone and they won't be back. Audiences will never again be what they were when CNN had a virtual monopoly on cable news.

AOL Time-Warner is in a world of hurt, financially. There is nothing in CNN's future but haircuts and layoffs. This producer will be driving a Yugo before Paula Zahn gets to third gear.

[7DayRepo]

Unfortunately Fox reaches far fewer households than CNN, and is increasing their subscriber base far more slowly than many would like.

There'll always be an audience for liberal pap and puffery.

[Nick Danger]

There'll always be an audience for liberal pap and puffery.

No doubt. The Democrats get their 40% even when their candidate has horns and a tail. Sometimes even when he's dead. My question is whether CNN can generate anything like the revenues it once did now that the audience for cable news is split along ideological lines. I don't see how they can. To hear this guy tell it, people who normally watch 'Friends' will stop their channel-flipper on a cable news show when they see the lovely and talented Paula Zahn interviewing some domehead from the Center For Peace. What planet did he just come from? That's why the Mindless Re-run Channel was started... to catch just those people.

I think CNN is trapped. MSNBC, in their desperation, already tried the idea of going whole-hog liberal. The mighty Phil Donahue went splat. Now they're coming the other way, trying to out-right Fox. CNN is caught between a rock and a place where there isn't actually a place. All they can really do is sit where they are, somewhat left of center, and accept whatever audience they get doing that. But it's never going to be what it was, back when they had the whole genre to themselves. It's going to be one cutback after another for those guys, until they get down to what they can really afford appealing to left-of-center news junkies.

[7DayRepo]

I understand, and I agree with pretty much all of your analysis.

As a footnote, I can only hope the broader entertainment market becomes as segmented as the cable news market. If entertainment content providers wake up en masse and say, "Hey, we can make a lot of money off of TV shows and movies that aren't anti-father, anti-family, anti-American, pro-liberal propaganda", it'll be a major victory in the culture war.

[speedy]

Liberals had an information monopoly for so long that they simply don't know how to deal with a challenge. Our side has been seasoned by years in the trenches, being villified and taunted by the Left. We had to learn how to fight, and now it is paying off. Next stop: the universities. Don't you get the feeling that liberals at some level are dimly aware that the tide has turned against them?