As Jake Tapper's Biden Book Promotion Faces Criticism, CNN's Ratings Drop For His Show and Others
Jake Tapper's new book, 'Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,' co-authored with Axios reporter Alex Thompson, has sparked a conversation about the ex-president's cognitive decline while in the White House.
But the book's release, along with Tapper and Thompson's extensive media tour to promote it in the last month, has not helped the CNN star's ratings — or the shows that follow his.
In fact, viewership for 'The Lead with Jake Tapper' suffered a noticeable year-over-year drop-off in May, posting its worst month since August 2015, according to Nielsen. And the three shows that follow his — 'Erin Burnett Upfront,' 'Anderson Cooper 360' and 'The Source With Kaitlan Collins' — all took significant hits as well, with each seeing its viewership drop 18% or more compared to a year ago.
The ratings drop-off coincided with Tapper and Thompson's tour to promote 'Original Sin.' The book debuted in the top spot on The New York Times bestseller list, selling about 54,000 copies in its first week, and it currently ranks as the sixth-best seller on Amazon. Tapper's hosts on other CNN shows also heavily promoted the book.
It was a tough month for CNN overall. After seeing its ratings rebound following a viewer exodus after the 2024 election, the channel lost that momentum in May, posting its second-lowest weekday primetime and total-day viewership ever; only December 2024 was worse.
Here is a look at the ratings:
'The Lead With Jake Tapper,' per Nielsen data, dropped 25% from 701,000 viewers in May 2024 to 525,000 viewers last month. Cooper and Burnett's shows each lost more than 100,000 viewers compared to a year ago, dropping 18% year-over-year; and Collins' show took a 24% hit compared to a year ago, going from 611,000 viewers to 462,000.
Tapper referred TheWrap to CNN's PR team when reached for comment. 'The award-winning program 'The Lead with Jake Tapper' reaches broad global audiences across CNN, CNN International and Max's streaming platform,' a CNN spokesperson told TheWrap. 'No single metric can capture the true reach and impact of a program driving the national conversation.'
CNN shows like Tapper's are available on Max for streaming, which is not counted by Nielsen, although the channel did not share how much that may have boosted May ratings.
MSNBC did not benefit from any disenchanted CNN viewers moving over to their channel, with its ratings dropping 24% month-over-month between April and May.
Tapper and Thompson have made headlines while promoting the book — perhaps most notably when Tapper told Piers Morgan last week that the cover-up of Biden's cognitive decline was 'maybe even worse than Watergate.'
During an interview on his own channel, Tapper said there was was 'not enough' coverage of Biden's health issues, including from himself. And while appearing on Megyn Kelly's show last month, Tapper said he called Lara Trump to apologize to her, after he ripped her in 2020 for claiming Biden was showing signs of cognitive decline. 'She saw something that I did not see at the time,' Tapper said. '100 percent. And I own that.'
The media blitz hasn't appeared to help CNN's viewership, though, and has opened up the network, and Tapper, to criticism from both sides of the political aisle.
Tapper and Thompson's mea culpas about the press' failings, and their own, haven't mollified conservatives, who have used the reporting in the book as evidence that the media downplayed Biden's health in an effort to prop up his candidacy, which Tapper has denied. 'Original Sin' has also faced attacks from the left, accusing Tapper of focusing on Biden when there are more pressing issues regarding the current administration.
Weighing in on 'The Left Hook' podcast, writer Wajahat Ali described the book by saying, 'While the Trump Administration is galloping towards fascism and arguing to end birthright citizenship, corporate media remain complicit cowards by focusing on Joe Biden's age.'The post As Jake Tapper's Biden Book Promotion Faces Criticism, CNN's Ratings Drop For His Show and Others appeared first on TheWrap.
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