CNN's new streaming service gets cancelled one month after launch

As daily viewership remains abysmally low, Warner Bros. Discovery announced on Thursday that it will shutter CNN+, the network’s new streaming service, on April 30 – just 23 days after initially announcing its launch.

"CNN will be strongest as part of WBD’s streaming strategy which envisions news as an important part of a compelling broader offering along with sports, entertainment, and nonfiction content,” CNN’s incoming Worldwide Chairman and CEO Chris Licht said in a statement. “We have therefore made the decision to cease operations of CNN+."

The network also announced the service’s end, noting that it was once “hyped as one of the most significant developments in the history of CNN.”

"CNN+, the streaming service that was hyped as one of the most significant developments in the history of CNN, will shut down on April 30, just one month after it launched," the network wrote in a tweet.

According to a New York Times report, CNN’s new parent company decided to shut down the network’s subscription service after the platform failed to attract new viewers and garnering fewer than 10,000 daily views in the first two weeks. CNN reportedly poured $300 million into the project as an upfront investment and recruited top talent from the industry, including former Fox News anchor Chris Wallace and CNN’s Jake Tapper, Don Lemon and Anderson Cooper.

“While today’s decision is incredibly difficult, it is the right one for the long-term success of CNN,” CNN’s incoming president Chris Licht wrote in a memo. “It allows us to refocus resources on the core products that drive our singular focus: further enhancing CNN’s journalism and its reputation as a global news leader.” 

CNN first announced the launch of CNN+ on March 29, noting that the new service “combines live news coverage, on-demand programming and interactive interviews” and would serve to “establish closer relationships with news consumers.”

But while the new platform’s cancellation was announced on Thursday, analysts have said that the “seeds behind its demise were planted weeks ago.”

CNN+ was launched just days before WarnerMedia merged with Discovery, sparking speculation about the fate of the new stand-alone service.

In a statement, Warner Bros Discovery’s Global Streaming President J.B. Perrette said that moving forward the CNN brand and its content will form part of a more comprehensive streaming offering – similar to HBO Max and Discovery+, two services which the company has said it plans to combine.