When the prospective deal between former CNN host Don Lemon and social media platform X fell through, many blamed Elon Musk for quashing free speech after a moderately contentious interview with the ex-cable host.
Musk had a different take on why a deal with Lemon wouldn’t work: “His approach was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media’, which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying,” he wrote in a post.
His approach was basically just “CNN, but on social media”, which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying.
And, instead of it being the real Don Lemon, it was really just Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so lacked authenticity.
All this said, Lemon/Zucker are…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 13, 2024
And, well, whaddya know: It turns out Musk had a point, judging by the reception to Lemon’s second sit-down interview on social media.
According to a New York Post report published Tuesday, Lemon’s new social media-cast “is grappling with a fast-shrinking audience after he was unceremoniously dumped by Elon Musk — and the pittance in revenue may not even cover the costs of his bare-bones production.”
“Nobody is watching,” a media insider was quoted as saying.
“Poor Don, he doesn’t realize people watched the first interview because of Elon — not him! Watching the Elon interview reminded everyone of how much they dislike Don.”
Do you consider Don Lemon to be a credible journalist?
Lemon’s second interview was with Kara Swisher, the podcaster, author and tech journalist. While no Musk, Swisher is still a big name among media types, which would lead one to believe that it would garner significant viewership numbers.
Not so much: As of Thursday morning, the episode was just shy of 200,000 views on X and 97,000 views on YouTube.
The Don Lemon Show episode 2: @karaswisher
TIMESTAMPS:
(1:55) Introducing Kara Swisher
(2:20) Elon Musk’s behavior in the interview
(6:35) Tech Giants and the Media
(9:37) Having a wide variety of views on Twitter
(14:35) Donald Trump and Politics
(18:35) Drug Use and Drug… pic.twitter.com/nybDGghrU4— Don Lemon (@donlemon) March 20, 2024
Compare that with the Musk interview, which has garnered 2.3 million views on X and 1.3 million on YouTube. Not only that, Swisher didn’t even consider the appearance to be important enough to promote it on her X account, which has 1.5 million followers.
“She knew it was so bad that she has ditched him and not promoted,” a media insider told the Post.
And the diminishing returns continued: As of Thursday morning, the third episode, featuring comedian Mo’Nique, has just over 100,000 views on X and 23,000 on YouTube. Even Kevin “Mr. Wonderful” O’Leary of “Shark Tank” fame couldn’t salvage episode four, which has 47,000 views on X and 16,000 on YouTube — although, to be fair, it was just put out on Wednesday.
However, a clear pattern is emerging here: Nobody is particularly interested in watching Don Lemon doing his cable news schtick on social media and pretending that it’s adding value to digital discourse. Maybe Kara Swisher isn’t a household name, but she’s still considered one of the preeminent tech journalists working today. (For reasons beyond my comprehension, but I digress.) Mo’Nique and Kevin O’Leary certainly are, however — so what explains the low viewership numbers aside from the fact that “CNN, but on social media” is a bad business model, as Musk accurately identified?
And, yes, recovery is possible for Lemon — but not likely. First, as one source told the Post, this trend is exactly the opposite of what you want to see if you’re to succeed in the digital realm: “To start strong and then immediately fizzle is worse than starting slow and building an audience,” the source said.
Furthermore, it isn’t as if Lemon hasn’t promoted this extensively in the legacy media he was forced out of.
“The cratering viewership has come despite Lemon’s whirlwind media tour in the wake of the Musk fiasco. He returned to CNN for an interview with Erin Burnett, and made appearances on ‘The View,’ the ‘Tamron Hall’ show and ‘The Dan Abrams Podcast,’” the Post noted.
Bottom line: CNN doesn’t even work on CNN, as evinced by the network’s ratings. It certainly doesn’t work on X or YouTube, as Don Lemon is finding out the hard way. Banal establishment journos who repeat the party line aren’t the voices people are tuning in for. Instead, personalities like UFC commentator and comedian Joe Rogan are popular because they provide unique — if informed — voices that the establishment shuns.
Heck, even before the era of podcasting, James Lipton — former brothel manager turned actor turned host of “Inside the Actor’s Studio” — was way more interesting. He’d succeed on X/YouTube, were he still alive. CNN hacks, not so much. Turns out Musk was right after all.
