Warner Bros. Discovery will shut down CNN+ on April 30, after its March 29 debut; sources: CNN+ had ~150K subscribers and was on pace to hit first-year goals
the same firm that suggested pharmacists get REBATES for opioid deaths—charged CNN millions to tell it what someone wanted to hear. Every $ wasted could have gone to paying journalists. https://twitter.com/... Sara Fischer / @sarafischer : MORE: Internal note to employees obtained by @axios regarding CNN+ shutting down: https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... Trung Phan / @trungtphan : On a per day of existence, CNN+ burnt much more money than Quibi. Writing more on this for my Saturday newsletter: https://trungtphan.com/... https://t.co/Vo0wE8gwv7 Scott Galloway / @profgalloway : Loved every second, over way too fast. So,,,sex. @CNNplus Casey Newton / @caseynewton : In light of recent events, I have decided to reject the advice of my consultants at McKinsey to launch the Platformer+ streaming service Wesley / @wesleylowery : I'm not sure we're being honest about the demand/desire for streaming news (or...television news at all). I'm not sure we're being honest about how diminished the standing/draw/name rec of the most prominent broadcast journalists is compared to the past Sam Stein / @samstein : Cheering the failure of CNN+, however you feel about the idea behind it, is gross. Lots of people are losing their jobs. The high-priced hosts will be fine, but folks who are just trying to make a living in an industry that already pays shit wages... this sucks for them. Sara Fischer / @sarafischer : More nuggets in here regarding @CNNplus shutting down: — Andrew Morse, the head of CNN+ and head of digital at CNN, will be leaving the company. — Alex MacCallum, head of product and general manager, will replace Morse as head of digital https://www.axios.com/... James Hennessy / @jrhennessy : Breaking the news of your own enormous failure and including a typo. You do hate to see it https://twitter.com/... Ben Mullin / @benmullin : BREAKING: CNN+ will shut down on April 30. https://www.nytimes.com/... Chris Bakke / @chrisjbakke : If you think you're having a bad week, just remember that the team at WarnerMedia who lost $5.9m/day at Quibi were the same backers of CNN+ where they lost $9.4m/day. Sara Fischer / @sarafischer : NEW @axios: Inside the chaotic collapse of CNN+ — $25m monthly on marketing & other massive expenses made Discovery wary it could be profitable in 4 years — Chris Wallace could be heading to linear TV, but not at 9p — Hiring freeze will end — 350 laid off https://www.axios.com/... Rakesh Agrawal / @rakeshlobster : Quibi and go90 both lasted substantially longer than CNN+. go90 was Verizon's attempt at streaming content. go90 is so forgettable that I had to google several times to come up with the name, but technically it did exist for ~3 years. Nick Gillespie / @nickgillespie : Unsurprised to see Quibi 2.0 take the dirt nap. Most cable news channels' model for streaming is like mags/newspapers' early web model in '90s: Put out shit version of your “real” product. The first net that puts out primo streaming stuff will succeed. https://www.wsj.com/... Peter Kafka / @pkafka : Shortest answer for cnn+ shutdown: old management launched it, new management didn't want it. Getting rid of the old owner's stuff is the easiest call for a new owner to make. Like ripping up the landscaping. Or getting rid of a $10 billion mistake. https://twitter.com/... Nilay Patel / @reckless : This is the fastest time-to-90 on the Go90 Scale of Doomed Streaming Services ever recorded. Congrats to everyone, a historic achievement. Less than a month. https://www.theverge.com/... Tyler Zed / @realtylerzed : Their 10 subscribers are going to be so upset https://twitter.com/... Dave Wiskus / @dwiskus : In other news, our self-funded indie streamer @WatchNebula is about to hit half a million paying subscribers. https://twitter.com/... @carnage4life : A CNN article opening by dunking on the failure of the CNN+ streaming product is spicy. This is an even faster failure than Quibi. I guess Scott Galloway wasn't enough of a draw to keep the service alive. https://www.cnn.com/... Tom Dotan / @cityofthetown : The team and I are 100% off the grid next 2 weeks for a creative retreat planning our upcoming series on CNN+. Can't wait til May to show you what we've been cooking up! Dan S. / @dcseifert : the one disappointment i have is CNN+ came and went so quickly that i didn't even get to take advantage of a six month free promo and then not watch anything on it like i did with Quibi Tim Carmody / @tcarmody : An unholy quadrifecta walloped CNN+: immature product rushed to market, didn't take up quickly with customers, plus broader skepticism in the streaming market, and (especially) major executive turnover at both CNN and its parent companies. Nothing can survive that Kerry Flynn / @kerrymflynn : “In a complex streaming market, consumers want simplicity and an all-in service, which provides a better experience and more value than stand-alone offerings.” RIP CNN+ Hoping the best for everyone involved and that they're able to move CNN+ staff to other jobs internally https://twitter.com/... Joanna Stern / @joannastern : More evidence of my theory that any successful streaming network must now launch with a minus. CNN- https://www.wsj.com/... Brian Stelter / @brianstelter : Chris Licht on the closure of @CNNPlus: “This decision is in line with WBD's broader direct-to-consumer strategy. In a complex streaming market, consumers want simplicity and an all-in service, which provides a better experience and more value than stand-alone offerings.” Jason Del Rey / @delrey : This was so quick that I didn't even get to share the documentary I co-produced to all my social channels. Feel for the folks who put tons of time and energy into this new service https://twitter.com/... Benedict Evans / @benedictevans : “CNN's just-launched direct-to-consumer streaming service CNN+ is shutting down”. End of the first wave of D2C streaming wars? https://www.wsj.com/... Parker Ortolani / @parkerortolani : I mean congrats to Quibi for no longer having to be the streaming joke punchline... https://www.theverge.com/... Lex Friedman / @lexfri : RIP CNN+ April 2022-April 2022 Katie Rosman / @katierosman : Under its former president, Jeff Zucker, CNN lured big stars to CNN+, including the former “Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace, the former NPR co-host Audie Cornish and the food writer Alison Roman. https://www.nytimes.com/... Mark Berman / @markberman : good lord, *33 days* after launching https://twitter.com/... Joshua Benton / @jbenton : So ridiculously dumb to cram to launch CNN+ before the Discovery takeover was official, knowing well they'd likely kill it a few weeks later https://www.cnbc.com/... Oliver Darcy / @oliverdarcy : CNN+, the streaming service that the news organization hyped as the most significant initiative in the network's history since it went on air in 1980, will shut down April 30, just over one month after it launched. https://www.cnn.com/... Josh Benson / @wflajosh : Sad. A series we were a part of about #JodiHuisentruit was suppose to air on the platform. We'll let you know if it sees air on TV. #MissingPerson @findjodi https://twitter.com/... Mark Leibovich / @markleibovich : New Coke! https://twitter.com/... Ian Sherr / @iansherr : Really feeling for friends at CNN right now. No matter your opinion of the product I think we can all agree it sucks when a bunch of people's hard work gets cut down this quickly. A lot of good people worked on this. https://twitter.com/... Martin Sfp Bryant / @martinsfp : It launched three weeks ago. https://t.co/jTTnlFIqjG M.G. Siegler / @mgsiegler : This is WILD. I mean, yes the writing was on the wall since day one, it seems. Still. THIS fast?! Kudos to them, I guess for making it. But also a hat tip to Netflix for making it so obvious to make it now. Lucas Shaw / @lucas_shaw : CNN+ lasted less than a month. Good scoop from @bristei. https://twitter.com/... @jeffdlowe : Does this mean Quibi is no longer the quickest streaming service flop? https://twitter.com/... Jesse Hawken / @jessehawken : This is a huge opportunity for WB Discovery to rebrand the service as SnyderCut+ and launch a new 24 hour network of JUSTICE LEAGUE sequels and spinoffs #RestoreTheSnyderVerse𓃵 https://variety.com/... David Weigel / @daveweigel : Ugh. I really hope the people who left their jobs to join Quibi But News find a good place to land. https://twitter.com/... Sami Fathi / @samifathi_ : Lol. What a shocker. No one wanted to watch more CNN. How surprising. https://twitter.com/... Anthony DeRosa / @anthony : Warner Bros. Discovery is shutting down CNN+ and is expected to provide details to staffers Thursday, according to two people familiar with the matter https://variety.com/... See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
CNN+ began as a planned standalone subscription service before WarnerMedia’s combination with Discovery put David Zaslav in charge of the new company. The shutdown ends that direct-to-consumer bet almost immediately after launch, despite reported subscriber progress.
The later CNN Max open beta indicates that CNN’s streaming distribution was ultimately redirected toward Max rather than maintained as a separate paid product.
First-order effects
- CNN+ will cease operations on April 30, affecting roughly 150,000 reported subscribers and ending a service that had launched March 29.
- About 350 CNN+ staffers are being laid off; Andrew Morse is leaving, while Alex MacCallum takes over CNN’s digital organization.
Second-order effects
- Warner Bros. Discovery avoids CNN+’s reported monthly marketing and operating spend, while CNN’s digital strategy shifts under new leadership.
- CNN’s later placement of live news and originals inside Max turns its streaming offer from a separate subscription acquisition effort into a component of a broader service.
Third-order effects
- The sequence—from the earlier planned CNN subscription service to CNN Max—points to a media strategy in which news programming is more viable as a retention feature within a larger bundle than as a standalone subscription product.
- Subscription initiatives face sharper post-launch accountability when a corporate combination changes ownership priorities, as the WarnerMedia-Discovery deal did here.
The trend: News streaming is moving from standalone subscription bets toward bundled distribution inside broader entertainment platforms.