Jake Tapper‘s new book, Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, might be on The New York Times bestseller list, but its success has seemingly not done CNN and favors.
The book, which Tapper co-authored with Axios reporter Alex Thompson, was released on May 20 and debuted at the top spot on the NYT bestseller chart, selling around 54,000 copies in its first week. The book details claims of a cover-up regarding Joe Biden‘s health during his presidency and the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election.
However, despite the book’s success and Tapper’s wide-ranging promotional tour, ratings for CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper were down significantly year-over-year in May. According to Nielsen figures, the show averaged 525,000 total viewers from April 28 through May 25, a drop of 25% from the same period last year.
Other CNN anchors, including Anderson Cooper, Erin Burnett, and Kaitlan Collins, who have helped heavily promote Tapper’s book, also experienced year-over-year drops. According to AdWeek, CNN was down 18% in total viewers and 21% in the key 25-54 demo during primetime compared to the same period in 2024.
Despite emerging from the post-election ratings slump since Donald Trump took office in January, CNN fell back in May with its second-lowest weekday primetime and total-day viewership ever (December 2024 was worse). In total day, the network dropped 14% in total viewers and 13% in the demo year-over-year.
CNN isn’t the only cable news network to see declines, though. MSNBC also dropped compared to May 2024; the network was down 24% in total viewers and 34% in the demo during primetime. In addition, MSNBC was down 33% in viewers and 41% in demo during total day.
Fox News was the only network to post gains, with a rise of 23% in total viewers and 32% in the key demo year-over-year in primetime. In total day, the network was up 21% in total viewers and 22% in the key demo.
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