Chris Cuomo is struggling to replicate the same success he found on CNN with his NewsNation series, Cuomo.
The ratings for Cuomo are reportedly down 90% overall and 95% in the 25-54 age demographic compared to his time on CNN, according to new Nielsen Ratings numbers shared by the New York Post on Friday, August 29.
The journalist’s self-titled series reportedly averages at around 164,000 total viewers and 15,000 in the aforementioned demographic. In comparison, his former CNN series, Cuomo Prime Time, averaged around 1.4 million viewers and 374,000 in the key demographic throughout its 2017-2021 run.
Per the outlet, Cuomo even drew in more viewers during his final quarter on CNN than with his NewsNation show, averaging 797,000 overall viewers and 165,000 in the main demographic. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cuomo’s CNN show reportedly drew in 2.4 million total viewers regularly.
Cuomo’s ratings struggle on NewsNation could be due to the show competing in the 8 p.m. ET weeknight time slot. Fox News’ Jesse Watters Primetime averages at 3.1 million viewers, per the report, while MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes and CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360° average 874,000 and 539,000 viewers, respectively. Newsmax’s Finnerty also beats out Cuomo with 319,000 total viewers.
NewsNation YouTube
Chris was fired from CNN in December 2021 following claims that he aided his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, in battling sexual assault allegations. “This is not how I want my time at CNN to end but I have already told you why and how I helped my brother,” he wrote via X at the time. “So let me now say as disappointing as this is, I could not be more proud of the team at Cuomo Prime Time and the work we did as CNN’s #1 show in the most competitive time slot.”
He concluded, “I owe them all and will miss that group of special people who did really important work.”
News broke in June 2022 that Cuomo would be joining NewsNation’s primetime lineup that fall, and Cuomo premiered on the network that October.
“I make a lot of mistakes. Sometimes for good reasons, sometimes for bad reasons. I’m very flawed,” Cuomo said of his past controversies and NewsNation role on a February 2023 episode of Anthony Scaramucci‘s Open Book podcast. “There’s damage. There’s damage that’s relatable to people. There’s damage that’s unrelatable to people that I have to deal with. That I try to deal with. That I do the work on. I still fail.”
He added, “I have learned to accept it. I had to accept because I was gonna kill everybody, including myself. Things can consume you… I really had to fight against that because… I got too many people counting on me.”
Cuomo, Weeknights, 8/7 c, NewsNation