CNN tops 3 million viewers during Trump Town Hall

Former President Trump’s town hall event with CNN was a major ratings boost for the network Wednesday.

The hourlong event, broadcast in prime time and moderated by anchor Kaitlan Collins, netted 3.3 million total viewers, according to preliminary Nielsen Media Research data.

That figure represents more than three times the number of viewers CNN has earned during the 8 p.m. hour in recent weeks but is less than the size of the audience that has watched Trump town halls on Fox News and other networks in previous years.

Among all CNN single-candidate town halls since 2016, Wednesday’s event with Trump ranked second in total viewers, the network said, behind a 2020 Joe Biden event just before the presidential election that drew 3.4 million viewers.

For comparison, a Trump town hall with Fox host Sean Hannity earlier that summer pulled in a whopping 5 million total viewers.

CNN has taken a bevy of criticism over its decision to host the event with Trump, with leading Democrats and media watchdogs panning the network for providing Trump a platform to promote false assertions about the 2020 election and other matters.

During Wednesday night’s event, the crowd gathered in New Hampshire cheered and laughed as the former president mocked the woman a New York jury found earlier in the week he had sexually abused in a department store in the 1990s.

Trump’s presidency was generally a viewership boon for most cable news companies, some of which have experienced a dip in ratings in recent years, declines that have hit CNN most acutely.