WarnerMedia, the parent company of the HBO Max subscription-based video-on-demand service, has invested in creating a news-streaming service. The service, called CNN+, was released two weeks ago. Despite being an established news source, CNN has struggled to gain traction with its new streaming service.
According to CNBC, fewer than 10,000 subscribers have used CNN+ over the past two weeks. In 2021, CNN experienced a daily average of about 773,000 viewers on cable platforms. This number is staggeringly lower than what CNN saw in 2020, which was 1.2 million viewers.
In addition to its slow start, CNN+ is available for download and use on a limited number of platforms. Since it is not yet compatible with all major digital media player platforms, early subscribers to CNN+ have shared their frustration that its low accessibility makes it difficult to view their news on-demand.
Axios has released a report indicating that there could be some significant cuts in store for CNN due to the lack of support for its streaming service launch.
WarnerMedia allocated a budget of about $1 billion for CNN to spend on CNN+ over the next four years. The news network has already spent about $300 million. However, millions will likely be removed from the budget unless there is a significant increase in the number of viewers.
According to Streamable, the goal was to have about 18 million subscribers by 2026 so that CNN could break even before the fourth year of service was complete.
For those interested in getting news coverage on-demand from CNN, CNN+ can now be found and downloaded through Roku.