CNN boss Mark Thompson said he plans to roll out a number of highly anticipated digital subscription services to offset the decline in audiences at the struggling cable news outlet, but he continued to be vague about the details.
Since Thompson joined CNN 18 months ago, the digital strategy being created is expected to begin to materialize this year’s streaming product and another streaming product in 2026. Thompson told the Financial Times Tuesday.
“I don’t think this is easy,” Thompson said of transforming CNN’s business and including robust digital revenue. “Our industry is experiencing a revolution. Landscapes continue to experience the stress and tensions of massive disruptions in the audience and the media in general.”
Thompson said he hopes to build a digital subscription business that generates more than $1 billion in annual revenue by 2030.
The network, home to Anderson Cooper, Jake Tapper and Erin Burnett, generated operating revenue of $1.7 billion last year, S&P Global Market Intelligence estimated.
Warner Bros Discovery, the parent company of CNN, gave Thompson more than $70 million to carry out his conversion, the outlet said.
The irony was not lost to CNN employees who killed subscription streaming service CNN+ when Warner Bros Discovery merged with Discovery in 2022.
Thompson, formerly CEO of the New York Times, helped to see digital transformation, but has been vague about CNN’s plans, slipping significantly in recent years in valuations, cutting 200 jobs significantly earlier this year.
CNN further declined to comment.
Total US viewers on CNN have shrunk by about 8% in the first three months of the year despite a steady stream of news created by Trump’s return to the White House.
Left-leaning rival MSNBC fell by a whopping 27% over the period, Nielsen said, as the right-leaning Fox jumped an astounding 48%.
Executives described the first product this year as a “non-news digital product,” but the information may be heavy. ”
Whatever it is, it will be launched in the US before it is deployed to customers around the world.
The service is expected to have more features and lifestyle content, according to the report, saying some of Thompson’s previous attempts to introduce some paywalls of CNN’s Newsier content were still in the “Easly Days” stage.
Insiders speculate that Thompson will create a variety of services for subscribers outside of lifestyle and entertainment core news.
Thompson has a rather clear look at the fate of CNN and cable television. This continues to shrink as customers choose to stream, telling staff in 2023 that the network is “unprepared for the future.”
What makes things worse for Thompson is the hostile stance Trump took against CNN about what he considered biased reporting. This year, Thompson told CNN staff to focus on Trump’s second term and to report objectively about the next four years, rather than returning to his historically hostile relationship with the president.
Thompson reflected that sentiment, saying that CNN’s work is “accurate” and “fair” methods, while CNN’s work is “reporting the government’s government for the day.”
The executive added: “We shouldn’t slip into the idea that part of our job is to oppose political forces. Our job is not to head into the ring through political contests and start throwing ourselves.”
