Piers Morgan brings worst ratings to CNN prime time slot in 21 years
Amy Willis, Los Angeles
Piers Morgan’s US talk show on CNN is facing an embarrassing climb-down after viewing figures dropped to the worst levels the network has seen in at least 21 years.
When the prime time show replaced Larry King’s 9pm slot 18 months ago audience figures trebled. But after a successful few months, numbers have tumbled to a record low.
In May, figures for Piers Morgan Tonight dropped to their lowest in 15 years with only 39,000 viewers in the key 25-54 demographic tuning in to watch the former Daily Mirror editor.
The figures demonstrate a major slide for the British television personality whose show launched to a massive advertising campaign in January 2011.
His debut show attracted 2.1 million viewers – 521,000 of which were between 25 and 54. Since then, the programme has lost 27 per cent of its audience and 32 per cent of the 25-54 demographic.
Despite the dwindling numbers, the former Daily Mirror editor remained defiant this week, brazenly retweeting a comment suggesting the ratings failure was worse than “a Moody's analyst with an undiagnosed brain tumour".
The 60-minute talk show has featured a number of television personalities from Glee’s Jane Lynch to Charlie Sheen as well as high-profile political guests such as the Dalai Lama.