Analysis: CNN, Trump both big losers in ratings from their town hall spectacle

CNN and Donald Trump were swinging for the fences with their town hall. The ratings numbers are in, and it was a big swing, and a big miss.

The 8 p.m. ET Wednesday broadcast drew an average of 3.308 million viewers, ranking third on cable and 10th overall in total viewers for Wednesday prime time, according to ShowBuzzDaily.

Head-to-head in the 8 p.m. ET hour, the Trump town hall drew fewer viewers than Fox’s “The Masked Singer” (3.543 million), “The Survivor” on CBS (4.777 million), NBC’s “Chicago Med” (5.451 million) and ABC’s “Jeopardy! Masters” (5.452 million).

The town hall ran over 10 minutes into the 9 p.m. ET hour. There, the broadcast ran behind ABC’s “Celebrity Wheel of Fortune” (4.762 million) and NBC’s “Chicago Fire” (5.946 million).

The Miami-New York NBA playoff game on TNT (4.388 million) that ran from 7:30-10 p.m. ET also outdrew the town hall in total viewers.

But hey, good news: Trump trounced Fox’s “Farmer Wants a Wife” in the 9 p.m. ET hour (2.131 million).

Other than that tiny bit of solace, for Trump, who is all about the ratings – and then you factor in that he’s going to face another defamation suit from journalist E. Jean Carroll after, once again, defaming her during the broadcast – yeah, not a good night.

Now, to CNN, which has been tanking in the ratings for years. From a deeper dive into the numbers, giving Trump 70 minutes to turn on his firehouse of lies to try to get people to tune in to witness the spectacle didn’t prove to be worth it.

Not only did the town hall get pantsed by pretty much everything else on TV on Wednesday night, but even the people who were watching aren’t the types that help you make money on TV.

Advertisers value the 18-49 demographic, because the 18-49s are spendthrifts (all that avocado toast, presumably).

The Trump town hall drew a 0.43 rating among 18-49s, ranking a distant fifth on cable for the night (the Lakers-Warriors playoff game at 10 p.m. ET drew a 2.72 rating among 18-49s), and 12th overall.

It was basically olds tuning in, as you’d expect with a TV show featuring a grandpa telling various people (of color, liberals, immigrants, other Republicans) to get off his lawn for 70 minutes.

And then you have to account for how the people who tuned in to CNN for the spectacle then tuned out in droves.

The network averaged 2.3 million viewers for the 9 p.m. ET hour, which included 10 minutes of the end of the Trump town hall, and then was down to 1.227 million for the 10 p.m. ET hour (poor Anderson Cooper).

Fox News, meanwhile, had 1.925 million watching Sean Hannity at 9 p.m. ET and 1.774 million watching Laura Ingraham at 10 p.m. ET.

Basically, CNN sold out to get viewers, largely didn’t, the ones they did get changed the channel, and they won’t make any money at it.