CNN+ Will Stop Streaming On April 30 After Only A Month Of Operation

CNN announced on Thursday that it will be ending CNN+ on April 30, almost a month after it first launched on March 29. The decision was said to have been made by "new management" after CNN's former parent company, WarnerMedia, merged with Discovery to form Warner Bros. Discovery on April 8.

“While today’s decision is incredibly difficult, it is the right one for the long-term success of CNN. It allows us to refocus resources on the core products that drive our singular focus: further enhancing CNN’s journalism and its reputation as a global news leader,” CNN CEO Chris Licht said in a memo, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Left unsaid in CNN’s announcement was the swift recognition of the streaming service’s ill-fated start and immense growing pains.

Last Tuesday, Axios reported that CNN's management was contemplating cutting hundreds of millions of dollars from CNN+ after failing to lure in enough subscribers since its launch.

According to a separate report by CNBC last week, CNN+ attracted fewer than 10,000 users daily after two weeks of existence. In comparison, Disney Plus attracted 10 million subscribers on its first day of existence on Nov. 13, 2019.

CNN+’s failure to attract subscribers came after optimistic projections produced by CNN executives together with consultants from McKinsey & Co. that predicted at least two million U.S. subscribers alone by the end of 2022. This number, it estimated, would rise to about 15 to 18 million after four years when it was then expected to break even after reaching international markets.

CNN+’s demise comes as competition among streaming services continues to intensify. Earlier this week, Netflix saw the value of its shares tank after reporting a decline in subscriptions as well as heightened competition from others like Disney and Apple TV.

It also arrives as CNN continues to grapple with a wider decline in overall ratings. In February, it was reported that CNN saw a 69% drop in the size of its prime-time audience compared to the same time last year as well as a 68% decline in its total number of viewers.