CNN’s Bill Maher Overtime comedy venture falls flat as Gutfeld! rules late night
Julia Johnson
Video Embed
In its first attempt at venturing into the late-night comedy scene, CNN has fallen flat.
The first airing of Real Time with Bill Maher Overtime came at 11:30 p.m. during CNN Tonight on Feb. 3.
The program failed to save CNN’s ratings, however. The network was still blown out of the water by Fox News’s Gutfeld!, especially in the key 24-54 age demographic.
WATCH: DON LEMON SAYS ELON MUSK AND RUPERT MURDOCH SITTING TOGETHER IS ‘FRIGHTENING’
Between 11:30 p.m. and 11:45 p.m. on Feb. 3, CNN posted 387,000 viewers on average, per Nielsen data. This included just 90,000 in the 24-54 demographic, which is sought after by advertisers.
Comparatively, Gutfeld!, which airs during the same time frame, boasted an average of 1.9 million viewers during those 15 minutes. This included 359,000 in the coveted 24-54 demographic.
The following Friday night, Feb. 10, CNN posted fewer viewers during the 15-minute increment, clocking in at an average of 345,000, with only 70,000 in the key demographic. Meanwhile, Gutfeld! enjoyed an average of 1.85 million viewers, 277,000 of which were in the 24-54 range.
After reports that CNN was interested in a comedy venture to compete with Fox News’s successful show, the network announced it would begin airing segments of Overtime on Friday nights during CNN Tonight.
Talking about his show’s inclusion on CNN, Maher recently joked, “Are we really on CNN now?”
“CNN, what, did they go nuts for putting us on there?” he said. “No, I’m thrilled. The world needs a good CNN, so I’m very happy that we can help out any way we can.”
iFrame Object
The choice to use Maher’s show before producing a CNN original was explained by CNN Chairman and CEO Chris Licht in a recent interview.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“I worked on a comedy show. And it took over 200 people to produce an actual comedy show,” he said. “So no, I would not be so foolish as to, in one fell swoop, hurt the brand of comedy and news by trying to do a comedy show on CNN.”
With the lack of ratings improvement brought in by the program, it’s unclear if CNN will move forward with any other comedy ventures.