This chart could explain why CNN Plus shut down early

Well, that’s what CNN did the decision to close Its new streaming baby, CNN Plus, less than a month after its release, you might be wondering what went wrong. A report von Axios has a chart showing the streaming service was a long way from hitting its projected year-end viewership goal and would have burned $400 million in 2022 alone trying to get there.

CNN predicted the service would have two million subscribers by the end of the year, but about two weeks later they realized they had only managed to attract 150,000 people. That doesn’t sound too bad at first, but considering services like Disney Plus had 10 million subscribers on his first day – and this Quibi that was shut down similarly early in lifedrew 910,000 signups in the first few days – not a lot for CNN.

Streaming isn’t for everyone, but CNN set itself up to make big bucks. CNN Plus should generate $800 million a year in earnings by 2030, an even bigger cash cow than its cable network today (which Axios estimates generates about $500 million in annual earnings).

Picture: axios

As? By 2030, CNN was betting that 30 million people would be paying either $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year (or $59.99 a year, respectively). $2.99 ​​per month if they were early subscribers), hoping that the surge in subscribers would eventually shift to making money rather than just spending it. By 2024, CNN thought it would only lose $200 million and break even in 2025. From there, the company expected to earn $200 million in 2026 before slowly moving toward its end-of-the-decade goal of $800 million in 2030.

We don’t know the exact logic that caused CNN to pull the plug, but when you see that CNN Plus only had 150,000 subscribers and apparently had to burn $1 billion to get that $800 million a year, it’s not hard to see what Einatz was about. Instead, CNN got out early.