Embarrassing: CNN Doc Gets Smoked by NewsNation Special on UFOs

On Sunday night, NewsNation had an hour-long special to continue its dogged reporting on the whistleblowers coming forward with information they allege is a massive, decades-long government cover-up of aliens (aka unidentified flying objects or UFOs). Not surprisingly, the network still in its early stages pulled in strong ratings and beat out CNN in the key 25-54 demographic.

CNN also had a new documentary called See It Loud on black comedy and culture, but Nielsen Media Research found it only fetched 32,000 viewers in the key demo and down 70 percent from the same timeslot a month earlier. In contrast, NewsNation pulled in 39,000 viewers, which was a 105 percent increase from June 2023.

Worse yet for CNN was they poured hefty promotions and resources into the doc, including having Lebron James as executive producer. In contrast, much of NewsNation’s hour-long special were merely highlights of last week’s House hearing on UFOs.

Overall, Nielsen showed CNN’s doc still won total viewers with 356,000 viewers. But, again, it was a marked decline (25 percent) from last month. While NewsNation’s total viewership for We Are Not Alone: The Historic Hearing drew 106,000 total viewers, that was up 16 percent for the slot from a month earlier.

For a network looking for ratings wins and growing viewership, this was a hit for NewsNation. If you shrink the key demo of 25-64 to 35-65, the gap shrunk with CNN drawing 125,000 (a 34 percent decline) and NewsNation pulling 65,000 viewers (a 71 percent climb).

By covering topics the establishment broadcast and cable networks have refused to cover or downplayed, NewsNation undoubtedly has an opening to give viewers another alternative in the form of the network that actually delivers the news.