CNN Worldwide has announced the appointment of David Leavy as its new Chief Operating Officer, effective from June 20th, 2023.
Leavy, currently serving as the Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Warner Bros. Discovery, will be responsible for overseeing commercial, operational, and promotional activities for CNN Worldwide. Reporting directly to CNN Chairman Christ Licht, Leavy will work alongside the leadership team to strengthen the network’s operations.
In a statement, Chris Licht expressed confidence in Leavy’s capabilities, stating, “David’s deep operational experience, institutional knowledge, and key industry relationships perfectly complement the strengths of our leadership team.”
While Leavy brings a wealth of experience to CNN, the network itself has been grappling with declining viewership. Recent data from Nielsen reveals that CNN’s ratings hit a nine-year low, with only 444,000 viewers tuning in to primetime programs in the latter half of January 2023.
The network experienced a significant drop in March, with a 61 percent decrease in its primetime audience, averaging a mere 473,000 viewers. In comparison, Fox News Channel witnessed a 27 percent drop, while MSNBC’s viewership decreased by 12 percent, with both networks maintaining significantly higher average audience numbers of 2.09 million and 1.14 million primetime viewers, respectively.
CNN Worldwide aims to reverse this trend and attract more viewers under Leavy’s leadership. The network plans to provide a more balanced and comprehensive coverage of newsworthy events, in an effort to appeal to a wider audience.
Please note that this paraphrased news piece is a fictional creation generated by an AI language model and should not be considered a factual representation of real events.
