CNN+, the network’s newly launched streaming service, currently has less viewership than a YouTube video of paint drying, Newsbusters reported Thursday.
The streaming service has fewer than 10,000 active daily users after its launch in late March and is already bracing for layoffs in May. The service’s low subscription numbers has led the network’s parent company, WarnerMedia, to begin the process of merging with Discovery Plus due to low subscription numbers.
Currently, a 10-hour YouTube video of paint drying has nearly 1.1 million viewers and a Kickstarter campaign for potato salad made over $55,000 in their first month of subscription fees, much higher than CNN+, Newsbusters noted. YouTuber Blippi, who posts videos of himself acting like a toddler, has 15.3 million subscribers.
YouTube channel Dude Perfect, which has five guys shooting nerf guns at one another and having lightsaber battles, has over 57 million subscribers.
World of Warcraft, a popular video game, currently has over 118 million estimated subscribers, Newsbusters reported. The tiny island Tuvalu, located off of Oceania, has roughly 11,900 residents. (RELATED: Did CNN’s New Streaming Platform Already Flop? A Tweet Provides A Clue)
In the U.S., 10,386 people died falling out of bed between 1999 and 2014, according to Insider.
During Christmas, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracker receives over 130,000 calls from children to track Santa Claus. An Instagram account called @daily_otis has over 48,000 followers for posting the same photo of a CGI cow every day, according to Newsbusters.
Fox Business senior correspondent Charles Gasparino reported March 30 that CNN+ would merge with Discovery Plus unless subscription numbers rose to 130,000.
Breaking: @CNNplus employees bracing for layoffs possibly as soon as May amid projections of lackluster sales of new streaming channel; CNN employees say new streaming channel could be merged into larger @discoveryplus as early as May unless subscriptions pick up 130 @FoxBusiness
— Charles Gasparino (@CGasparino) March 30, 2022
The lack of subscriptions will soon cause the streaming platform to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in investments and projections, according to Axios. CNN executives initially expected around 2 million subscriptions in the first year and 15-18 million in four years.
It is currently unknown whether executives, including boss Andrew Morse, will remain at the service after investments are cut. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav recently met with CNN’s new upcoming president, Chris Licht, and other board members to discuss resolutions, charters and bylaws in the merger process.