CNBC 'Shark Tank' Reruns Drown CNN Ratings

CNN in January marked its third-lowest month for total viewers since 1991, even losing in the ratings to CNBC's Tuesday and Wednesday night reruns of "Shark Tank."

The troubled network's rankings in the key news demographic of adults 25-54 slipped below sister network HLN as well, says The Hollywood Reporter.

The rankings among Fox News, MSNBC and CNN remained otherwise the same, with Fox placing first in daytime and prime time, followed by MSNBC in second place.

But CNBC, which generally comes in fifth, started running repeats of ABC's "Shark Tank" and drew the adults 25-54 away from competing prime-time news programs. The reruns brought in an average of 276,000 viewers in the key demographic, making "Shark Tank" the sixth-place pick for cable news for the month.

It topped not only all of CNN's offerings but MSNBC's as well, except for "The Rachel Maddow Show."

CNN has been struggling in recent months, giving pink slips to more than 40 journalists last month as the network seeks to restructure its news operations. Most of the layoffs were in the Washington, Los Angeles and Atlanta bureaus.

Jeff Zucker, the new head of CNN who came to the network a year ago from NBC, has instituted many changes to the programming lineup, adding more entertainment specials and documentary reality series, such as celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain’s show and the upcoming "Chicagoland," a political reality series.

In addition to the Maddow show, the others topping "Shark Tank" were all Fox shows: "The O'Reilly Factor," "The Five," "The Kelly File," and "Special Report with Bret Baier."

"Shark Tank" wasn't powerful enough to bring CNBC into the top rankings, however. The reality program placed 21st overall, with a total of 541,000 viewers. Programming on Fox News and MSNBC took the top overall spots, while "Shark Tank" still placed better than any CNN show, says The Hollywood Reporter.

Fox News was the only channel to see increased ratings compared to those posted last January. CNN dropped by 35 percent, but FNC and MSNBC only dropped slightly, by 1 and 2 percent, in the 25-54 demographic.

MSNBC also marked demo-high rankings with one of its newest programs, "All In With Chris Hayes."

But CNN is still having problems with its early-morning offering, "New Day," and with "Crossfire," both of which caused the network to drop below its sister channel, HLN. CNN's total viewership in the daytime, at 98,000, was below HLN's 101,000 figure.

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